LAYING OFF FOR PLANTING 87 



steel wire about one-eighth of an inch in diameter. The length varies 

 according to the wishes of the user. If it is desired to lay off the 

 plantation in blocks of one acre, the wire should be two hundred and 

 eight feet nine inches long, for that is approximately the length of 

 one side of a square inclosing an acre of ground. But some use a 

 wire as long as three hundred feet, when the acre measure is of no 

 consequence; and others, in smaller plantings, make the wire just 

 the length of the piece they have in hand. At each end of the 

 wire is fixed a strong iron ring about one and a half inches in diam- 

 eter, to be slipped over stakes ; some use a larger ring, say three 

 inches in diameter, because it is easier to handle in pulling taut. 

 Along this wire, patches of solder are placed exactly at the distances 

 desired between the rows of trees or vines, and to these places pieces 

 o^ red cloth are sometimes fastened so that the points may be easily 

 seen. Another style of measuring wire is made of small wire cable 

 about a quarter of an inch in diameter, made of several strands of 

 small wire. It is more flexible and less likely to become kinked than 

 the large wire, and can be easily marked off to represent the dis- 

 tances, at which rows of different kinds of trees should be placed, 

 by separating the strands a little at the desired points and inserting 

 a little piece of red cloth, pressing the wires together again and tying 

 firmly with a waxed thread to prevent slipping. In this way the 

 same wire can be easily arranged for planting vines or for trees re- 

 quiring the greatest distances between the rows. Another advantage 

 of the cable is that any stretching can be taken up by retwisting, 

 which cannot be done with the stretching of a single wire. Another 

 good style of planting wire is made of 2, 4 or 6- foot links of No. 12 

 steel wire (including the diameters of the small rings turned at each 

 end of the link pieces). As all planting will probably be at multiple 

 distances of these link-lengths, the Cloth tags can be changed and 

 the chain thus be marked for any desired distances. 



Some of the largest recent orchard plantings have been made by 

 the use of the planting-wires described. Guide stakes are placed by 

 surveyors two or three hundred feet apart in lines which accurately 

 represent the distance between the rows. The trees are placed in 

 these rows by the use of the wire between the guide stakes. If the 

 foreman of the planting gang keeps his eye on the work, quite ac- 

 curate lining of the trees in all directions can be secured. 



Finding a True Corner. To use the measuring wire for laying 

 out trees on the square, it is necessary first to get one corner true, 

 and then a field of any size can be marked out accurately. Select 

 the side of the field which is to serve as the base of the square and 

 stretch the wire along that, say fifteen feet from the fence, which 

 will give room enough to turn with the team in cultivation or to 

 drive along in picking-time. When the wire is thus stretched par- 

 allel with the boundary of the field, place a stake at each of the dis- 

 tance tags on the wire, and these stakes will represent the first row 

 of trees or vines. To find a square corner, begin at the starting point 

 and measure off sixty feet along this row with a tape line, and put a 

 temporary stake, then from the starting point measure off eighty 



