154 



ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 



difficult, but when once understood it is 

 a very simple process. As may be seen 

 from Plate II. Fig. 1, it does not differ 

 materially from the laying out of an 

 orchard on the rectangular plan. Lines 

 are drawn across the field in both direc- 

 tions, but in all cases the distance be- 

 tween the lines running one way of the 

 field, compared with that of the lines 

 running the other way, is in the propor- 

 tion of three to five. In laying out an 

 orchard in which, for example, the trees 

 are to be 36 feet apart each way, the dis- 

 tance between the lines running one way 

 would be 18 feet (one-half of 36) and 

 that between lines running the other way 

 would be 30 feet. (Eighteen is to 30 

 as three is to five.) The stakes are then 

 placed in the same manner as suggested 

 for the quincunx system. The position 

 of the fillers in the center of the diamond 

 groups may also be located with this 

 same system of lines. If more fillers are 

 to be used, as previously suggested, lines 

 nine feet apart one way, and fifteen feet 

 apart the other way. will need to be 

 drawn. A very simple method of laying 

 out an orchard by this system, espec- 

 ially on uneven ground, consists in the 

 use of a wire triangle, like that shown 

 in Fig. 4. This triangle should be made 



Fig. 4. A Wire Trianele Used in Laying Out 

 An Orchard After the Hexagon System. 



just the size of one-half the diamond 

 formed by four trees: that is, each side 

 of the triangle should represent the dis- 

 tance between the permanent trees. The 

 wire should be connected at each angle 

 by means of a ring. The triangle is car- 



ried around by three people and the 

 stakes located as shown on the margin 

 of Fig. 3, Plate II. If the triangle is 

 always kept tightly drawn and held on 

 the level, there should be no trouble in 

 correctly locating the stakes, even on 

 very uneven ground. 



C. D. Jabvis, 

 Storrs. Conn. 



Rules for Various Methods 



Rule for the Square Method — Multiply 

 the distance in feet between the rows by 

 the distance the plants are apart in rows, 

 and the product will be the number of 

 square feet for each plant or hill, which 

 divided into the number of feet in an 

 acre (43.560) will give the number of 

 plants or trees to the acre. 



Rule for the Equilateral Method — Di- 

 vide the number required to the acre 

 "square" method by the decimal .886. The 

 result will be the number of plants re- 

 quired to the acre by this method. The 

 meaning of the rule for the "square 

 method" is that in dividing the number 

 of square feet in one acre by the product 

 of the distance in feet between the rows 

 by the distances the plants are apart in 

 rows, the quotient indicates the number 

 of square blocks into which an acre is 

 divided. Therefore, each block will have 

 one tree placed in its center, which, of 

 course, means that while the number of 

 blocks are indicated by the rule the num- 

 ber of trees are also shown. In making 

 a diagram of any plot of ground the num- 

 ber of squares will be indicated, and 

 each square will have a tree in the cen- 

 ter of it. This will give a turning place 

 or strip on each side of the plot equal 

 to one-half the distance between the tree 

 rows. 



The rule for the "equilateral method" 

 may be explained by stating that each 

 tree, instead of growing in a triangular 

 plot is really placed in a parallelogram 

 whose longest side is equal to the distance 

 between rows in the "square" method, 

 and whose shortest side is equal to .866 of 

 this distance; or the ratio of the per- 

 pendicular drawn from an angle of an 

 equilateral triangle to one of its sides. 

 In making the tables decimals have been 



