The new sweet-scented leaf became popular overnight, and during the remainder of the seventeenth century it proved the economic salvation of the colony. To a large degree, the new crop determined the economic, social, and political life of the planters. The demand in England for the new leaf was also responsible, in a large measure, for the spread of settlement and increase of population in Virginia. The tobacco plant developed by Rolfe was the first crop grown by the Virginia settlers which made a profit. The conjectural illustration shows Jamestown colonists harvesting tobacco about the year 1650. [Illustration: Research on painting by author. Photo courtesy National Park Service. Harvesting Tobacco At Jamestown About 1650 _Conjectural Painting_] WINE During the early years of the Jamestown settlement the Virginia Company of London encouraged many agricultural pursuits, including the planting and cultivation of grape vines and the making of wine. The reasons seemed to have been twofold: first, to make money for the Virginia Company, whose stock-holders had invested much capital in the new colony; and secondly, to insure the mother country a steady flow of inexpensive wine--which was impossible as long as continental merchants charged exorbitant prices for wines sent to England. Then, too, if wine could be made successfully in Virginia, the people living in the new settlement would profit accordingly. Vineyards were planted on Jamestown Island at various periods of time during the seventeenth century, and quantities of good wines were made, but far too often inferior wine was fermented. Because of the long sea journey from Virginia, casks of good wine sent to England frequently arrived in a spoiled condition. After 1675 the hope of producing good Virginia wine for export purposes waned. During the last ten years of the century, when Jamestown declined, the vineyards were neglected, fell prey to deer and the elements, and soon became engulfed in the wilderness. The illustration shows a man and woman pressing grapes at Jamestown about 1650. The woman is trampling them, whereas the man is using a primitive grape press. [Illustration: Research on painting by author. Photo courtesy National Park Service. Making Wine At Jamestown About 1650 _Conjectural Painting_] [Illustration: _Photo courtesy National Park Service._ Items Found At Jamestown Relating To Wine Wine was a popular beverage in Virginia during the seventeenth century. A few items unearthed at Jamestown which relate to wine consumption are shown: a wine bottle, wine glass, glass bottle seals (which were attached to the shoulders of many wine bottles), a bronze spigot, and wooden barrel staves. In 1610 Francisco Maguel, who had spent eight months in Virginia, wrote that "There grow in that country [Virginia] wild many forest grapes, of which the English make a wine that resembles much the wine of Alicante, according to the opinion of the narrator who has tasted both."]