 By one estimate, settlers had cleared two-thirds of the Connecticut's available land.That would change in the first half of the century, in part due to Connecticut's own metropolitan centers swelling in size, as well as improved machinery that enabled farmers to plant and harvest more crops, including the Hawkes Plow manufactured in Hartford beginning in the 1830s.The tobacco industry also saw its first significant growth in the first half of the 19th century, as farmers in the Connecticut River valley and later the Housatonic River valley found success with their leaves as cigar wrappers.