PLANTING AT UNIFORM DISTANCES 



91 



ferent directions. This arrangement also gives better facilities for 

 irrigation. Objections are urged to it, however, in that it does not 

 admit of thinning trees by removal of alternate rows, as is some- 

 times desirable, and that one has to take a zigzag course in driving 

 through the orchard. It is, in fact, much less in use than formerly. 



Laying Out Hexagonals With a Triangle. It is possible to lay 

 out an orchard in hexagonal form by working from stake to stake 

 with an equilateral triangle of dimensions equaling the distance re- 

 quired between the trees. 



One corner of triangle all being made alike. 



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 up 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 ready 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 



