Then began a steady repetition of hoeings and plowings, broken by the rush after a rain to replant the hills whose first plants had died or grown twisted.

Then came also several operations of special tedium.
Each plant at the time of forming its flower bud must be topped at a height to leave a specified number of leaves growing on the stalk, and each stalk must have the suckers growing at the base of the leaf-stems pulled off; and the under side of every leaf must be examined twice at least for the destruction of the horn-worms.

These came each year in two successive armies or "gluts," the one when the plants were half grown, the other when they were nearly ready for harvest.

When the crop began to turn yellow the stalks must be cut off close to the ground, and after wilting carried to a well ventilated tobacco house and there hung speedily for curing.

Each stalk must hang at a proper distance from its neighbor, attached to laths laid in tiers on the joists.