The plants were considered
large enough to be transplanted when they had grown to be about the
"Breadth of a Shilling," usually around the first or second week in
May. The earlier in May the better, so that the crop would mature in
time to harvest before the frosts came. Planters usually waited for a
rain or "season" to begin transplanting. One person with a container
(usually a basket) of plants dropped a plant near each hill; another
followed, made a hole in the center of each hill with his fingers,
inserted the roots and pressed the earth around the roots with his
hands. Several "seasons" and several drawings from the plantbeds were
usually required before the entire crop was planted, which was
frequently not until sometime in July.

The tobacco was hoed for the first time about eight to ten days after
planting, or to use a common expression, when the plants had "taken
root." The tobacco was usually hoed once each week or as often as was
deemed necessary to keep the soil "loose" and the weeds down. When the
plants were about knee high they were "hilled up," as the Indian had
done his corn, or the Englishman his cabbage, and considered "laid by."
Frequently some of the plants died or were cut off by an earthworm;
these vacant hills were usually replanted during the month of June,
except when prohibited by law. This restriction was an attempt to
reduce the amount of inferior tobacco at harvest time.

Around 1800, plows were still rarely used in new grounds, but they
appear to have been rather common in the old fields. George Washington
used the plow to lay off his tobacco rows into three-foot squares, the
hills were then made directly on the cross so that in the early stages
of its growth the tobacco could be cultivated with the plow each way.
The plow lightened the burden of cultivation by requiring less hoe
work.

When the plant began to bloom, usually six or seven weeks after
planting, the plant was topped; that is, the top of the plant was
pinched out with the thumb and finger nails. The number of leaves left
on the plant depended largely upon the fertility of the soil. In the
early days of the colony, planters left twenty-five or thirty leaves on
a plant, by 1671 the number had been reduced to twelve or sixteen in
very rich soil. Throughout the seventeenth century the General
Assembly, in an attempt to reduce production, occasionally limited the
number of leaves that could be left on a plant after topping. Aft