rvant could be held
usually for but a few years. Hardly had he reached his greatest
usefulness for his master than he demanded his freedom. Thus for the man
of large means to keep his fields always in cultivation it was necessary
constantly to renew his supply of laborers. If he required twenty hands,
he must import each year some five or six servants, or run the risk of
finding himself running behind. But the slave served for life. The
planter who had purchased a full supply of negroes could feel that his
labor problems were settled once and for all. Not only could he hold the
slaves themselves for life, but their children also became his property
and took their places in the tobacco fields as soon as they approached
maturity.

Thus in the end the slave was far cheaper. The price of a servant
depended largely upon the cost of his passage across the ocean. We find
that William Matthews, having three years and nine months to serve, was
rated in the inventory of his master, John Thomas, at L12.[7-35] A
servant of Robert Leightenhouse, having two years to serve, was put at
L9;[7-36] while on the other hand we find another listed in the estate
of Colonel Francis Epes, also having two years to serve, at only
L5.[7-37] A white lad under indenture for seven years to Mr. Ralph
Graves was valued at L10.[7-38] On the whole it would seem that the
price of a sturdy man servant varied from L2 to L4 for each year of his
service. On the other hand a vigorous slave could be had at from L18 to
L30. Assuming that he gave his master twenty-five years of service, the
cost for each year would be but one pound sterling. There could be no
doubt, then, that in the mere matter of cost he was much cheaper than
the indentured white man.

It is true that the negro was none too efficient as a laborer. Born in
savagery, unacquainted with the English tongue, knowing little of
agriculture, it was a matter of some difficulty for him to accustom
himself to his task in the tobacco fields. Yet when his lesson had been
learned, when a few years of experience had taught him what his master
expected him to do, the slave showed himself quite adequate to the
requirements of the one staple crop. The culture of tobacco is not
essentially difficult, especially when pursued in the unscientific
manner of the colonial period. It required many, but not skilled hands.
The slave, untutored and unintelligent, proved inadequate to the
industrial needs of the northern c