Gironiere in describing the mode of culture on the tobacco plantations says: During the first two months after the transplanting it is indispensably necessary to give four ploughings to the ground between the rows of the plants, and every fifteen days to handpick, or even better, to root out with the mattock, all the weeds which cannot be touched by the plough.
"Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce"
E. R. Billings