Virginia's economic future did not lie with gold. There was too
little gold to be found there. Looking for new ways to make its
investments pay dividends, the Virginia Company of London began
encouraging multiple ventures by 1618. Jamestown settlers
experimented with glassblowing, vineyard cultivation, and even
silkworm farming. Despite efforts to diversify Virginia's
economy, by the end of the 1620s only one Virginia crop was
drawing a fair market price in England: tobacco. Tobacco was
introduced to Europe by the Spanish, who had learned to smoke it
from Native Americans. Despite some early criticism of "drinking
smoke," tobacco became popular among the middle classes in
England. Much of the tobacco smoked in England was grown in the
West Indies. There is an herb called uppowoc, which sows itself.
In the West Indies it has several names, according to the
different places where it grows and is used, but the Spaniards
generally call it tobacco. Its leaves are dried, made into
powder, and then smoked by being s