"A concise account of the number of inhabitants, the trade, soil, and
produce of Virginia"
“In the Colony of
Virginia, are 131,000 Tithables, 55, 958 pf which are white Men, and the
residue consists of Negro Men and Women; It will I suppose be reckoned a very
moderate computation to allow three Children for every pair of Negros
Thithable, if so the Number of Negro slaves will amount to 187,606, and as none
but White Men are listed as Tithables, we must suppose there are 50,863 women,
the proportion between the Sexes being commonly stated as 11 to 10, and
allowing three Children to every Woman there will be 152,589 Children;
consequently the number of Inhabitants White and Black in Virginia will amount
to 447,008, a number greatly exceeding any of the Colonies in America. As to
the Value of this great number of Slaves, we can only make a probably
computation founded on Principles well known and admitted in the Colony; A
Negro Man or Woman between 16 and 40 Years of Age is reckoned now worth Fifty
Pounds, tho 3 or 4 Years ago they went at double that Price, reckoning then the
above number of Negro Thithables but at 40 Pounds each they will amount to
3,001,680 Pounds Virginia Currency, and as to the residue valuing them but at
30 Pounds each they will amount to 3,376,890 Pounds and all of them to 6,378,570
Pounds.
As to the Trade of the Colony, its Staple is Tobacco; and tho it does
not yield much to the Planter; notwithstanding that- between 50 and 60,000
Hogsheads are commnibus Annis, exported to Great Britain, yet as 17,000 Tons of
Shipping are employed, and many thousand British Inhabitants supported thereby,
it is very valuable to the Subjects and may also be said to be a Jewel to the
Crown as so large a sum arises out of the Duties.
The Country indeed is very
capable of improvement and some attempts have been made to raise Hemp though
not considerable, the Soil however is very proper for such production. As to
the Drink chiefly used in the Colony, it is generally Cyder, every Planter
having an Orchard, and they make from 4,000 to 5 or 6,000 Gallons annually, in
proportion according to their Rank and Fortune. As to the Soil it is very
different in different Parts, that which lies upon the Rivers and their
Branches is generally a black deep soil and produces the largest Tobacco, and
all other Plants, and as the Country abounds in large Navigable Rivers a great
proportion of the Land is of this kind the produce of which is very easily brought
to Market, but the Land that lies distant from the Rivers is generally of a
middling Quality yet produces Maize or Indian Corn sufficient for the supply of
the Inhabitants who chiefly use Bread made from this Grain and the very meanest
and hilly Lands are very properly for the Peach Tree, every Planter having an
Orchard of those Trees the Brandy made from that Fruit being excellent, and
indeed might be made in sufficient Quantities for the supply of the People, was
there not so much Rum imported from the Sugar Islands.
As to the Manufactories
of Virginia, they consist chiefly of Cotton, for very little Woollen and Linnen
Cloth is made in the Province, there being but few Sheep, and as but little
Land is spared from Tobacco and Grain, so few of the Inhabitants understand the
management of Flax most of the Men as well as Women of the lower Classes wear
Cotton Cloth, both in Summer and Winter and it has been computed that there has
been Manufactured for one or two Years past of this kind of Cloth to the amount
of 250,000 Pounds Annually. Altho’ this necessarily lessens the Importation of
European Goods, it is not wholly of choice, the People being obliged to it, as
the Balance of Trade has for many Years been against them, the Colony being
much indebted to Great Britain,, even in the opinion of good Judges to the
amount of 1,500,000 Pounds.
In regard to the Stocks of Horses, Cattle, and Hogs,
they are very considerable especially the first, there being a great Number of
the best English breed now among us, and as to Plate and Household Furniture
this Colony exceeds all the others upon the Continent, so that upon the whole
it is much the richest as well as the greatest Importance to Great Britain and
therefore well deserves its Encouragement and Protection.”
At the top right of the map is a symbolic Indian maiden holding a portrait of King George III and a cornucopia of plenty representing the main products of the colony; tobacco and fruits.
