a hole with
their finger in each hill, inserting the plant with the taproot
carefully placed straight down, and pressing the earth on each side
of it. This is continued as long as the ground is wet enough to
enable the plants sufficiently grown to draw and set; and it
requires several different seasons, or periods of rain, to enable
them to complete planting their crop, which operation is frequently
not finished until July.

After the plants have taken root, and begin to grow, the ground is
carefully weeded and worked, either with hand hoes or the plough,
according as it will admit. After the plants have considerably
increased in bulk, and begin to shoot up, the tops are pinched off,
and only ten, twelve, or sixteen leaves left, according to the
quality of the tobacco and the soil. The worms, also, are carefully
picked off and destroyed, of which there are two species that prey
upon tobacco. One is the ground worm, which cuts it off just beneath
the surface of the earth; this must be carefully looked for and
trodden to death; it is of a dark brown color, and short. The other
is a horn worm, some inches in length, as thick as your little
finger, of a vivid green color, with a number of pointed
excrescences or feelers from his head like horns. These devour the
leaf, and are always upon the plant. As it would be endless labor to
keep their hands constantly in search of them, it would be almost
impossible to prevent their eating up more than half the crop had it
not been discovered that turkeys are particularly dexterous at
finding them, eat them up voraciously, and prefer them to every
other food. For this purpose every planter keeps a flock of turkeys,
which he has driven into the tobacco grounds every day by a little
negro that can do nothing else; these keep his tobacco more clear
from horn worms than all the hands he has got could do were they
employed solely for that end. When the tops are nipped off, a few
plants are left untouched for seed. On the plants that have been
topped, young shoots are apt to spring out, which are termed
suckers, and are carefully and constantly broken off lest they
should draw too much of the nourishment and substance from the
leaves of the plant. This operation is also performed from time to
time, and is called "suckering tobacco." For some time be