4:32 IMPLEMENTS. 



pleasure. In this respect there are few instances where the 

 American blacksmith is not employed to alter the eye of an 

 English-made hoe before it is fit for use ; the industrious and 

 truly useful merchants of Glasgow have paid more minute 

 attention to this circumstance. 



" The use of this hoe is to break up the ground and throw 

 it into shape ; which is done by chopping the clods until they 

 are sufficiently fine, and then drawing the earth round the 

 foot until it forms a heap round the projected leg of the 



laborer like a mole hill, and 

 nearly as high as the knee; he 

 then draws out his foot, flattens 

 the top of the hill by a dab with 

 the flat part of the hoe, and 

 advances forward to the next 

 hill in the same manner, until 

 the whole piece of ground is- 

 prepared. The center of these 

 hills are in this manner guessed 

 by the eye; and in most in- 

 stances they approach near to 

 lines of four feet one way, and 

 three feet the other. The plant- 

 DRAWING THE DIRT AROUND THE FOOT, er always endeavors to time this 



operation so as to tally with the 



growth of his plants, so that he may be certain by this means 

 to pitch his crop within season. 



"The third kind of hoe is the broad or weeding hoe. 

 This is made use of during the cultivation of the crop, to 

 keep it clean from the weeds. It is wide upon the edge, say 

 from ten inches to a foot, or more ; of thinner substance than 

 the hilling hoe, not near so deep in the blade, and the eye is 

 formed more bent and shelving than the latter, so that it can 

 be set upon a more acute angle upon the helve at pleasure, 

 by removing the wedge." 



The manner of preparing the soil in Virginia at the present 

 time is thus described by a Virginia planter : 



" The crop usually grown in Virginia is divided into three 

 classes, viz.: Shipping, Sun-cured Fillers, and Bright Coal- 

 cured Wrappers and Smokers. The first may be grown on 

 any good soil, upland or alluvial : the latter two on dry, well- 

 drained upland only. All require thorough preparation of 

 the soil to insure good crops. The work nrst necessary for 

 this crop is to burn a sufficiency of plant land. To prepare 



