The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-03-22
First Tobacco Grower.

VI ocdUOntdSl itOlIc Is connected With
the carly history Of Virginia In the
spring of lt;l2 the fifth year Of the
colony. he performed an action which.
II we were To Judge it by it. cun>c
pucncc- only, We might pronounce the
most important decd ever done in CO.
lpnlal Virginia. Being an old smoker.
he had the curiosity 70 know whether
whItc ineii coul,i rai-c gop'i ,ntacco in
Nlrana and accordingly. lc Iiauted
come tobacco -rrl at Jamcs,owr 1t
crew well Turing the summer. and
when the lcavc> were ripe, lrcurcd
them as best ir could for MT a
person in the colony was aclnaintcd
with the proper process. When the
leaves were dry, he tried them in hi,
pipe, and pronounced the tobacco ex-
ccllcnt. His friend Ralph IIamor,
secretary Of the colony, tried it and
ilnding it very much to his taste,
planted some seed in hi, garden in the
following spring. Mr. Ilamor. in hi,
tract upon Virginia. published in 1913.
gave Virginia tobacco Il strong in
dorscmcnt.
i dare affirm he wrote. that no
country under the sun can or doth
afford more pleasant, sweet and strong
tobacco than have taste. there, even
Of my own planting, which, howsocvcr,
being then the first year Of trial
thereof, We had not the knuwlcdyc to
cure and make up; yet are there some
men resident there, out Of the last
ycars well observed experience, which
both know, and doubt not, will make
and return such tobacco this year
oslo that even England Shall ac-
knowledge the goodness thereof
lie further says, when urging emf
grants to go tn Virginia, that any man
in the colony could earn his clothes
by raising tobacco-clothcs having to
be bought in England with money.
The Sccretary's prediction proved
correct. English smokers SO we'll ap-
prcciated the tobacco of Virginia that
the price of the article ranged from 3
to shillings a pound a colonist
needed to send only very few pounds
of tobacco home to gc. an excellent
suit of clothes. Naturally enough,
every one was eager to plant tobacco
and we read Of tobacco growing luxu-
riantly III the very streets and public
places Of jamestown Nothing could
draw the people off, says and old
historian. from their greedy and i'm
moderate pursuit Of tobacco - al
though hundred and fifty people
were sent out from England to set up
three iron works, and an attempt was
made to introduce the culture of hemp,
flax and silk. Tobacco became, and
for two centuries remained, the great
staple product Of Virginia. For a
century and more, it served in part as
the currency of the colony. We read
of men bequcathing hundreds of
pounds of tobacco for cndowing col
lcgc for converting the heather. Clcr-
gymcn were paid salaries Of so many
thousand pounds of tobacco per an
mum. Taxes, debts and rents we're
paid in tobacco.
No colony can flourish, if, indeed,
1t can exist, unless it produces some
thing which can be sold for money in
other and older countries since it
cannot. for many years. manufacture
the implements, utensils, fabrics and
apparel, without which it must either
perish or lapse into Larbarism. Nir-
ginia now had such commodity and
from this time forward it could make
Il return to the company ut home, and
buy with it's own product indispcnsa
bic articles manufactured in England.
Such VAS the consequences Of John
Rolfc $ planting of tobacco seed in the
spring of 1912 .iumeS Pwfou'S 7ri-
"mihS ~ Enterprise
= While the turkeys natural life
is only ten years, the goose sometimes