pence a bushel.[1] In a commission which Governor Harvey gave to Nathaniel Basse in 1631, he was authorized to visit New England, Nova Scotia, and the West Indies, and to offer to the inhabitants of those plantations, grain at twenty-five shillings a barrel delivered there, or fifteen shillings delivered in the Colony. Similar commissions with the same orders were granted to persons to trade in Canada and the Dutch settlements.[2] According to one authority, ten thousand bushels of Indian corn were shipped to New England alone in 1634. So abundant did grain become in the Colony, that Governor Harvey described Virginia as bearing the same relation to the northern provinees as Sicily bore to Rome.[3] Special regulations were adopted with respect to the boats employed in its transportation; they were to be of a burden of ten tons at least, and to be built with flush decks, unless fitted with grating and tarpauling.[4] It is not probable that wheat formed an important part in this exportation of grain. In 1632, seed wheat was so scarce in Virginia that Harvey, who was anxious to show unusual zeal in enlarging the number of its agricultural products, admitted that he was dependent on a supply from the mother country if he was to carry out the instructions of the English authorities with reference to sowing it.[5] He had but a short time before expressed a determination to restrict his own
- ↑ Royal Hist. MSS. Commission, Fourth Report, Appx., pp. 290, 291.
- ↑ Randolph MSS., vol. III, p. 219.
- ↑ Governor Harvey to Secretary Windebank, British State Papers, vol. VIII, No. 22; Sainsbury Abstracts for 1634, p. 71. Va. State Library. See also letter of John Winthrop, Jr., in Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. VIII. 5th series, Winthrop Papers, Part IV.
- ↑ Hening's Statutes, vol. I. p. 175.
- ↑ Governor Harvey to Privy Council, Feb. 20, 1632-33, British State Papers, Colonial, vol. VI, No. 73; Sainsbury Abstracts for 1632, p. 41, Va. State Library.
