432 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 
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 
repared. ‘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 Foor. 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 first necessary for 
this crop is to burn a sufficiency of plant land. To prepare 
nearly as high as the knce; he. 
