fence from the zigzag manner of its
construction.]

"The burning of this brush-wood, and the log piles, is a
business for all hands after working hours; and as nightly
revels are peculiar to the African constitution, this part
of the labor proves often a very late employment, which
affords many scenes of rustic mirth. When this process has
cleared the land of its various natural incumbrances (to
attain which end is very expensive and laborious), the next
part of the process is that of the hoe; for the plough is an
implement which is rarely used in new lands when they are
either designed for tobacco or meadow. There are three kinds
of the hoe which are applied to this tillage: the first is
what is termed the sprouting hoe, which is a smaller species
of mattock that serves to break up any particular hard part
of the ground, to grub up any smaller sized grubs which the
mattock or grubbing hoe may have omitted, to remove small
stones and other partial impediments to the next process.
The narrow or hilling hoe follows the operation of the
sprouting hoe. It is generally from six to eight inches
wide, and ten or twelve in the length of the blade,
according to the strength of the person who is to use it;
the blade is thin, and by means of a movable wedge which is
driven into the eye of the hoe, it can be set more or less
digging (as it is termed), that is, on a greater or less
angle with the helve, at 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.

[Illustration: Drawing the dirt around the foot.]

"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 thes