SETTING TREES 33 



The one objection to planting in squares, says 

 B. Judson, Idaho Experiment Station, is that 

 it does not cover the ground uniformly with trees ; for 

 instance, A is farther from D, and B from C, than A 

 from B or C, or B from D or A, making- a waste of 

 space in the middle of the square. (See 

 illustration.) This is sometimes utilized 

 by planting a tree there, such as a peach 

 or some quick-bearing or short-lived tree, 

 temporarily to occupy the ground ; but this 

 results in crowding, in a very few years. 



The best scheme for getting the maximum number 

 of trees at a given distance apart on the land, is the 

 hexagon or triangle system (sometimes called the 

 septuple system), which makes every tree exactly 

 the same distance from each of its neighbors. The 

 accompanying diagram shows the arrangement, and 

 the dotted lines make plain the triangles and hexa- 

 gons. If each tree is joined to each of its neighbors 

 by a straight line, a network of triangles will be 

 formed, and each group of six triangles around each 



tree forms a hexagon with a tree p- c 



in the centre. There are several / / \ 



ways of laying out an orchard on j.. ^' :^;'. 9 . 



this plan, the most expeditious \ 



being to use a wire. The end stakes \/ 



of the second row are most easily 



found by means of a wire triangle, / 



each side of which is as long as the TRIANOLE SYSTEM* 



desired distance between trees. F PLANTING 



Thomas Meehan gives the following directions for 

 planting fruit trees received from a nursery, and he 



