290 PLANTING. 



2. The three elementary forms of regular planting 



compared. 



For the same spacing, i.e., amount of growing room, between 

 the planting spots we can put down on the equilateral triangle 

 plan very nearly 1'155 times more plants than on the square sys- 

 tem. This circumstance, combined with the fact that in the former 

 arrangement each plant is surrounded by two more neighbours (6 

 instead of 4), implies earlier formation of the leaf-canopy, a fuller 

 growth, longer and better-shaped boles, and productiveness at an 

 earlier age, if not also in somewhat larger quantity. The equila- 

 teral triangle arrangement has, however, also its drawbacks ; it is 

 the most diffkmlt of the three to lay out (see page 298), and it is 

 impracticable or entirely superfluous in the midst of an existing 

 useful forest growth. In this last case, the square system also 

 results in much waste of labour and planting material, and, indeed, 

 it is mainly when land perfectly bare of trees and shrubs has to be 

 covered as quickly as possible with tree growth, that the square, 

 and particularly the equilateral triangle, arrangement asserts its 

 superiority over the rectangular method. 



In such areas this last pattern, especially if the disparity between 

 the distance from plant to plant in the lines and that from line to 

 line is very marked, has a tendency to cause an elliptical develop- 

 ment of the crown and roots and, therefore, of the bole itself 

 This inherent defect of the rectangular method can of course be 

 minimised by putting the lines close together, but in that case the 

 system would approximate to the square arrangement and would 

 cease to have a distinctive character. Nevertheless the rectangular 

 system has its place in bare opeu areas when the conditions of 

 vegetation are so unfavourable that a large proportion of casualties 

 is expected ; close planting in the lines is in that case one way of 

 providing against such casualties, and if these occur uniformly 

 throughout the crop, the survivors may ultimately present the 

 aspect of the square pattern. 



But it is when the area to be planted up already contains an 

 appreciable and evenly distributed amount of utilisable and useful 

 growth that the rectangular arrangement possesses an undoubted 

 superiority over the other two systems. It not only makes the most 

 of this previous growth by leaving it plenty of growing room 

 between the lines and allowing for whatever comes in the way of 

 the lines being at once assimilated with the mass of new plants put 

 down, but also economises labour and planting material and places 



