266 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



gation is to be used. The rows follow the contour of the hill, thus allowing 

 a gradual slope for running the water. The latter system is very little 

 used. Some prefer the hexagonal system as the largest number of trees 

 can be planted per acre without crowding, as each tree is exactly the same, 

 distance from every other tree. The number of trees per acre for each 

 system when a given distance is used, is as follows: Take thirty feet as 

 the distance, and with the square system you will have 48 trees, the quin- 

 cunx 84, and the hexagonal 55; or, if you want it in percentages, the 

 quincunx will give you 75 per cent more than the square^ and the hex- 

 agonal 15 per cent more than the square. 



LAYING OUT THE FIELD. 



There are several ways by which the trees can be gotten into straight 

 rows. I will mention two which are very satisfactory. One is to set every 

 third or fourth row of stakes with a compass, then stick the rows between 

 by stretching a chain across and stick in pegs to mark the places for the 

 trees. Land can be staked off by this means for about 50 cents per acre. 

 The other system is the wire. We have used the three wires here in the 

 Lewiston Orchards, and have set 5,500 acres with excellent results. Our 

 wires are what is known as wire rope or cables, built on the "same plan as 

 those that are used for clothes lines, only larger. The markers are made 

 out of a small strip of tin, bent around the wire, then a small stove bolt, 

 put through the ends, thus forming a clamp. If the wire stretches these 

 markers can be readjusted. We go over our wires every few days and ad- 

 just all buttons or markers. In making the marker, have as few sharp 

 edges as possible. 



In making up our wires we used a thirty-foot distance, and as our 

 planting was on the square, with a filler in the center our two side lines 

 were spaced fifteen feet apart. The cross line in this case also had but- 

 tons spaced fifteen feet apart. The ends of the wires were provided with 

 rings for the anchors, which consisted of an iron rod one inch in thickness 

 and three feet long. Our land is cut up into five-acre tracts, with a stake 

 at each corner. A wire is stretched down each side of a lot, which is 620 

 feet long, and the cross wire is stretched across one end fifteen feet from 

 the proposed fence line. 



We use a man for each thirty-foot button. He plants his tree; the 

 wire is shifted to the next button, which, is fifteen feet, and the man shifts 

 over to the fifteen-foot button on the cross wire. This is the filler. When 

 the wire is moved again, the planter shifts back to the thirty-foot buttons. 

 We find this a rapid, accurate method. On good ground a crew of eleven 

 men and a foreman have set as high as twenty acres per day. The rows 

 are absolutely straight. We have set as high as 640 acres in a single 

 block, and the rows were a mile in length, also crossing quite large hol- 

 lows, yet these rows could not have been run across the field by a sur- 

 veyor with any more accuracy. 



If you wish to use the hexagonal system, the same wires can be used, 

 but the position of the buttons will have to be changed on the cross line; 



