244 



ECONOMIC PLANTS 



of setting out orchard trees is to set them in squares. 



This, however, is not the best system with reference 



to the use of land. 

 If the roots and 

 branches spread out 

 uniformly from the 

 point of planting, 

 it is evident from 

 observing Figure 

 124 that the land 

 in the center of the 

 square outside of 

 the circles is wasted. 

 Some have at- 

 tempted to use this 

 waste land by 

 FlG - I24 ' planting a tree in 



the center of each square. When this is done, the trees 



are too crowded, 



as is shown by 



the overlapping 



of the circles in 



Figure 125. 



The hexagonal 



system (Fig. 126) 



uses the land more 



economically. The 



trees are distrib- 

 uted evenly over 



the area, and there 



remains but 10 per 



cent of unused 



land. FIG. 125. 



