LAYING OUT WITH TRIANGLE 93 



Take three strips of one-by-two-inch dry pine or redwood, and as long as 

 you wish the distance between the trees. Cut the strips the same length, and 

 fasten the corners of the triangle firmly together by nailing two pieces of pine 

 board six by six inches. 



If the long strips are set u edgewise, the triangle will be much stiffer and 

 better to carry. Through the corner boards bore an inch hole, making sure that 

 the three sides of the triangle measure exactly the same. If they do, the 

 triangle must necessarily be perfect Then brace it a little by nailing a lath 

 across each corner, and it is readv for use. 



Now split out some three-quarter-inch pins, one foot long, from good, straight- 

 grained redwood. Make one hundred pins for each acre you have to lay off. 



Three persons must now carry the triangle, beginning on one side of the field, 

 say eight feet from the fence, and guided the first time through by a line of 

 stakes. Carry the triangle with its side to the line of guide stakes and its point 

 in. The head man and the inside man will stick pins, while the rear man will 

 slip his corner each time upon the pin set by the head man. 



After the first time across, the man at the inside point of the triangle alone 

 will set pins, while the other two fit their corners upon the pins in the last row 

 set. Thus one row of pins only is set each time you go across the field. 



If the triangle is exact, and the first row of pins is set perfectly straight, and 

 the pins are always set perpendicularly, everything will now work like a charm 

 and the job will be perfect; and it is so simple and easy that a man .and two 

 small boys can lay off from five to ten acres in one day. Remember that no 

 guide stakes are used anywhere after the first time through. 



The Triangle on Hillside. The use of the triangle requires a 

 little nicety in ''leveling up" where the piece is hilly. By using a 

 plumb-line at two corners of the triangle, the third corner resting on 

 one of the stakes, leveling the triangle and bringing one of the plumb- 

 lines over another stake already set, the position of the other line would 

 determine the position of the next stake. This method has worked 

 fairly well, even in places where the slope was sufficient to give a fall 

 of six feet between the trees, which were set twenty feet apart. 



Locating in Triangles With a Chain. Instead of a wooden 

 triangle, a chain has been used in this way: 



First stretch a chain along one side of the ground, setting by it the first row 

 of stakes. This forms the base line. Have a piece of chain just twice the length 

 of the established distance between trees, with ample rings on the ends and a 

 joint in the middle. Put one of the rings over the first stake and the other 

 over the second stake. Then take the joint in the middle of the chain and 

 stretch it out reasonably tight. The wire forms a letter V, at the focus of which 

 stick a stake. The point is indicated with precision by the joint in the middle 

 of the chain. Then take the ring off the first stake and put it over the third 

 stake, leaving the one on the second stake where it is. Tighten the chain again, 

 and another point is fixed. Thus continue all the base line, shifting the rings 

 alternately, turning over the chain as one turns a pair of draughtsman's compasses 

 in his hand when spacing off a line. The second row of stakes being set, set the. 

 third row, and so on through the ground. 



The suggestions given in this chapter should indicate ways enough 

 to lay off orchard and vineyard ground to answer all needs, though 

 there are other good ways not mentioned. It is hoped that the instruc- 

 tions will not be regarded as to explicit. They are intended for the 

 guidance of the inexperienced planter, and will naturally seem laden 

 with detail to those who have become familiar with the operations by 

 repeated practice. 



