THE GRANGE; 



IMPLEMENTS REQUIRED. The outfit for 

 laying off aud staking land consists of a 

 chain, an axe, four or five flags (poles with 

 bits of cloth fastened at the top) and a 

 plentiful supply of stakes. Stakes a foot 

 in length will do, but the work is nicer 

 with laths three or four feet long, since 

 one can sight along a row of them without 

 getting down upon the ground too close 

 for comfort. The flags are serviceable for 

 designating corners and points to be seen 

 from a long distance. 



THE PLANTING CHAIN. The best and 

 Cheapest chain that I have found is one 

 made of annealed wires twisted about a 

 cord and in common use as "clothes line 

 wire." To make it serviceable for plant- 

 ing, fasten some large iron rings at the 

 ends for hand-holds and space the wire off 

 in the length decided upon for distances 

 between trees by running a fine wire be- 

 tween the strands and fastening a piece of 

 cloth or a tag thereto. The length of the 

 chain may depend somewhat upon the 

 length of the rows to be planted, though 

 two hundred feet is about a maximum 

 limit for convenient handling. In spacing 

 the wire off, it is a good plan to make the 

 end spaces conform to the distance adopted 

 for the margin of the orchard, then all in- 

 termediate spaces represent distances be- 

 tween trees. Thus, if the margin be 

 twelve feet and the distances between 

 trees twenty, the chain will be thus 

 marked: 



B c D E 



o o o o 



FIG. 1 PLANTING CHAIN. 



A to B, 12 feet. 



B to C, 20 feet. 



C'to D, 20 feet. 



D to E, 20 feet. 



X to Y, 12 feet. 



A chain of heavier wire than that I have 

 described is sometimes made in links 

 joined with small rings, but this is ob- 

 jectionable on account of kinking. Hope 

 should never be employed, as the shrink- 

 ing and stretching while in use preclude 

 anything like accuracy. 



A HELPER. The work of measuring 

 and staking requires two people; a smart 

 boy will do for a helper. 



BOUNDARY LINKS. The first task to 

 which one addresses himself is establish- 

 ing the boundary lines of the orchard. If 

 the land has been regularly surveyed and 

 staked and the orchard is located in one 

 corner or along one side of the lot, the 

 measuring of the required distances each 

 way to fix the orchard lines is an easy 

 matter. But if* the orchard happens to be 

 in the middle of the farm, and there are 

 no right angles already designated, the 

 planter must first apply himself to 



ESTABLISHING A KECTANGLE which 

 may be done as follows: Fix upon some 

 line that runs parallel to the north-and- 

 south or the east-and-west line of your 

 place, or whatever road, field, fence, 

 building or other object it is desired to 

 have the orchard align. This we will call 

 the base line. 



A . E B c 



FIG. 2 ESTABLISHING A RECTANGLE. 



Extend the base line A B any distance, 

 say one hundred feet, to C. Mark the 

 points E and C equal distances from B, 

 say one hundred feet each. Then take a 

 rope or chain longer than E B C (in this 

 case three hundred feet) with a knot or 

 tag exactly in the middle. Fasten one 

 end of the rope at E and the other end at 

 C; draw the rope out as shown in E D C. 

 The knot or loop being in the middle will 

 fall at D, giving a perpendicular to the 

 base line A E B C. By standing at B and 

 sighting across B D, the point F may be 

 established at any required distance, giv- 

 ing a corner of the orchard ground, and 

 then, by measurement, the point G may 



