190 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 



they are about two inches high. The process of 

 horse-hoeing then commences, by running a small 

 single-horse plough up and down between the rows, 

 as near as it can pass without injury to the crops. 

 The result of this first ploughing is shown in fig- 

 ure d (p. 187). 



Sometimes, instead of the horse-plough, the culti- 

 vator is taken for the first dressing, the wings being 

 guaged to the proper width, and stirring the earth be- 

 tween the rows. 



" Within two or three days afterward, the opera- 

 tion of hand-hoeing commences, which is performed 

 by the labourer going along the drills with a garden- 

 er's hoe, having a blade of about eight inches in 

 breadth. With tliis he stands opposite the rows, 

 and at one stroke across the ridge he cuts out the 

 plants at regular distances, leaving them standing 

 singly, with a vacant space of at least nine or ten 

 inches between each ; thus thinning them sufl5cient- 

 ly, and leaving room for the roots to grow to the 

 proper size." 



Within a fortnight or three weeks the weeds will 

 again spring up, and the horse-hoe must be again 

 passed between the rows, and the plants cleaned by 

 hand ; all sprouts are now cut out, and care taken to 

 leave only single plants in the ridges. ^ 



This horse-hoeing generally concludes the culture, 

 as the leaves are now broad, and, covering the soil, 

 prevent in some degree the growth of weeds ; but 

 sometimes, if the weather is unusually moist and 

 warm, it may be advisable to turn back the earth 

 taken from the plants by these several hoeings, using 

 the plough employed at the first dressing, and clean- 

 ing the plants after the plough with the hand-hoe. 

 A glance will show the appearance of the rows, and 

 also that the ridges will in this way be kept drier 

 than in any other, a thing of consequence where the 

 soil is inclined to be moist. The plant Avill now 

 grow lapidly without farther care, the leaves of a 



