ITS CULTUEE IN CALIFOKNIA. 

 CHAPTER X. 



THE QUINCUNX SYSTEM. 



; 

 ' '^ 





NX DEFINED. -Webster defines 

 'the word quincunx as follows : "An ar- 

 rangement or disposition of things by 

 'Jives in a square, one being placed in the 

 middle of the square ; especially an ar- 

 rangement as of trees, in squares, consist- 

 ing of five trees, one at each corner, and a 

 fifth in the middle, this order being re- 

 peated indefinitely so as to form a regular 

 i^roup, with rows, or ranks, running in 

 various directions." 



ILLUSTRATION. The quincunx figure is 

 thus illustrated : 



I !!. 7 QUINCUNX. 



Extended in a regular group it becomes 

 the following: 



FIG. 8 QUINCUNX GROUP. 



How QUINCUNX PLANTING is AVAIL- 

 ABLE. This system of planting is resort- 

 ed to mainly under the following condi- 

 tions: 



1st. By those who have orchards al- 

 ready planted on the square system, and 

 who wish to increase the number of trees 

 without enlarging the area. 



2d. By those who wish to plant both 

 oitrus and deciduous trees in the same 

 orchard with a view, generally, of cutting 

 away the deciduous trees when the citrus 

 ':ome into bearing. With Quincunx plant- 

 ing they can at pleasure dispense with 

 the middle tree in each group of five, and 

 leavo the remaining orchard in regular 



;<1. Quincunx is also employed in the 

 planting of seedling and budded orange 

 trees in the same orchard, the four corners 

 of the square being occupied by standard 

 trees and the middle points by budded 

 varieties, which make a lesser growth. 



How TO STAKE ON THE QUINCUNX SYS- 

 TEM. Stake the two check rows the same 

 as for square planting except that, you 

 double the number of stakes. For ex- 

 ample, if the trees in the square are to be 

 twenty-four feet apart, with an extra quin- 

 cunx tree in the middle, place the stakes 

 in the check rows twelve feet apart. 



ARRANGING THE PLANTING CHAIN. 

 To the planting chain attach an extra tag, 

 as X, Fig. 9, one-half the established dis- 

 tance from the tag A. 

 ~ x A B c D 



U o o o o " 6 



FIG. 9 THE PLANTING CHAIN- ARRANGED. 



EXPLANATION. Assuming that the es- 

 tablished distance between trees is twenty- 

 four feet, then from X to A is 12 feet ; A 

 to B 24 feet, etc. 



THE PROCESS OF STAKING. Stretch the 

 chain for the first row, allowing the tag A 

 (Fig. 9) to fall upon the pin a, Fig. 10. 

 a b 



FIG. 10 THE CHECK ROWS QUINCUNX. 



For the second row, let the tag X fall 

 upon the pin n. Proceed with the staking 

 as usual, placing a pin at each tag in the 

 chain. The result of changing the check 

 tags A and X is to bring the trees alternate- 

 ly opposite each other, thus : 



KI(T. 11 ALTERNATELY OPPOSITE. 



