LAYING OUT AN ORCHARD 



67 



The comparative ease with which tillage, spraying, and other operations 

 may be carried on in the orchards planted according to the different systems 

 may be seen by the following table, showing the distances between the rows of 

 permanent trees, with two sets of fillers, running north and south, east and 

 west, and diagonally across the field. 



DISTANCES BETWEEN ROWS ACCORDING TO SYSTEM 

 OF PLANTING 



The distances between the rows of permanent trees and fillers for trees at 

 50 ft. hexagonal system are given in Fig. 20. 



The greatest distances between the rows east and west are gained in the 

 square system, although the diagonal distance is less in this than in the hexag- 

 onal. The quincunx system diminishes by half the distance between the rows 

 of the square system running north and south, but the diagonal distance is the 

 same. The hexagonal system gives considerably more room for orchard opera- 

 tions than the quincunx system, the rows running north and south being the 

 same distance apart, and about seven eighths the distance of the north and south 

 rows of the square system. The rows running east and west in the hexagonal sys- 

 tem are at the same distance apart as the similar rows in the quincunx system. 



Cultivating an orchard diagonally requires considerably more turning than 

 carrying on operations parallel with the rows. This distance between rows is 

 the greatest in the quincunx and least in the square system (compared with 

 the other directions in the same system). In the hexagonal system the distance 

 north and south and diagonally is the same, with the east-and-west distance the 

 least. Ordinarily, therefore, orchard operations could be most easily carried on 

 north and south in the hexagonal system. 



If fillers are used, much more room is obtained between the rows by planting 

 according to the hexagonal system than according to the quincunx, as well as a 

 larger number of trees. If a very intensive system of fillers is used, the perma- 

 nent trees must be placed far enough apart to permit of cultivation between the 

 fillers. It is for this reason that the trees are placed 50 feet apart in Fig. 20. 



