week from the time of transplanting a light cultivator should be run
between the rows, stirring the soil lightly, after which the plants
should be hoed carefully, drawing away from the hill and plant the old
and "baked" earth and replacing it with fresh. If the hill is hard
around the plant it should be loosened by striking the hoe carefully
into the hill and gently lifting the earth, thus making the hill
mellow. This is apt to be the case with stiff, clayey soil, which, if
possible, should be avoided in selecting the tobacco field.

It is doubtless as true a saying as it is a common one with
Connecticut tobacco-growers, that the plants will not "start much
until they have been hoed." Where the first hoeing is delayed two or
three weeks, the plants will to a certain extent become stunted and
dwarfed, and will hardly make up for the delay in growing. In from two
to three weeks, the field should be hoed again, and this time the
cultivator should mellow the soil a little deeper than the first time,
while the hoeing should be done in the most thorough manner. Draw the
earth around the plant and cut up with the hoe all grass and weeds,
and remove all stone and lumps of manure and any rubbish that will
hinder easy cultivation, or retard the growth of the plants. At this
period the most careful attention must be given to the plants, as they
are (or ought to be) growing rapidly, and upon their early maturity
will depend the color and texture of the leaf.

In a short time the plants may be hoed for the third and last time (as
a fourth hoeing is but rarely necessary). At this time they have
attained considerable size, (say two or three feet high) and are
rapidly maturing, and ere long will be ready to harvest. At the last
hoeing the plants should be "hilled up," that is, the earth should be
drawn around the plant under the leaves, causing it to stand firmly in
the hill, and keeping the roots well protected and covered. The
tobacco plant requires constant cultivation, and the cultivator may be
run through the rows after loosening the earth and turning up the
manure towards the plants.

Some growers of tobacco in the early stages of its growth apply some
kind of fertilizers to the backward plants; this will be found to be
of advantage, and should be done just before a rain, when the plants
will start in a manner almost surprising. A little phosphate or
Peruvian guano may be used, but should be applied with care or the
plants ma