232 



STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



sufficiently deep to receive all the roots. The trees should be carefully 

 laid in, with their tops to the south, then fine, moist soil should be put 

 between the roots, so that no air spaces are left. If trees are to be left 

 heeled-in during the winter, care should be taken to remove all packing- 

 material which could harbor mice, rats or rabbits, and then snow should 

 be kept over them as a protection from severe cold. 



SYSTEMS OF ORCHARD PLANTING. 



There are several systems of orchard planting, — the square system, 

 in which the trees are set at the corners of a square, making the rows 

 equidistant in both directions; the quincunx system, which is the same 

 as the square system, except that a tree is planted in the center of the 

 square, and the hexagonal or equilateral triangular sj'stem, in which the 

 trees are equidistant apart in all directions. 



Of these, the square system is the most commonly used. While it 

 does not permit of planting as many trees per acre as the other systems, 

 it has the advantage of being easily laid out, is the easiest to cultivate 

 and permits of systematic and definite thinning when the trees begin 

 to crowd each other. 



P F 



F F 



P F 



F F 



F F F 



F F 



P P P P 



Square system. 



F P F P F P 



Square system with fillers. 



It is easily modified into the rectangular system, in which the rows 

 are farther apart in one dii-ection than the other. 



The quincunx system j)ormits of the planting of a great many more 

 trees per acre than llie s(iuare system. The number per acre will be in- 

 creased from 45% in small orchards to 98% in large orchards. The ad- 



