in or for whom arrangements were made for
importation within three years. The annual quitrent was to be two
shillings for 100 acres provided the full number of laborers were
brought in within the three-year period; if, however, full compliance
had not been made, ten shillings was to be paid annually for each 100
acres for which there was no worker or the size of the grant was to be
reduced proportionally. On the other hand, if the number of laborers,
including members of the family, was increased beyond the original
number proposed, the owner was entitled to an additional 100 acres for
each extra worker.

Governor Nicholson was instructed to "consider and advise with the
Council and Assembly" about putting these proposals into effect and
about overcoming any difficulties that might exist because of the
current laws of the colony. But instructions to the royal Governor was
one thing; putting these instructions into effect was quite another.
Neither the Council nor the Burgesses were willing to grapple directly
with land reform and no action was taken by the two bodies to implement
the recommendations of the Board of Trade. Governor Nicholson on his own
ordered that no more headrights be issued for the importation of
Negroes. As to the sale of headrights by the secretary's office which
Nicholson found to be still prevalent, the practice was not eliminated
completely. As a substitute measure which arose over the problem of land
taken up in Pamunkey Neck and on the south side of Blackwater Swamp, the
Governor and Council in 1699 authorized the acquisition of land by
"treasury right," stating that title to fifty acres of land would be
granted for the payment of five shillings sterling to the auditor. Thus
during the terminal year of this study, we find the significant
reappearance of sale of land by "treasury right" which increased in
importance as the eighteenth century progressed. Grant by headright
continued immediately to account for the great majority of land patents
issued, but after the first quarter of the eighteenth century it
gradually fell into disuse.

Being unable to inaugurate the proposed plan for land reform of the
Board of Trade, Nicholson turned to the improvement of collection of
quitrents as the most feasible means of achieving the approximate goal.
Payment of rent was an acknowledged requirement, even though frequently
evaded in the seventeenth century; and Nicholson proposed a stringent
collection of