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difficult, but when once understood it is 
a very simple process. As may be seen 
from Plate Il, Fig. 1, it does not differ 
materially from the laying out of an 
orchard on the rectangular plan. Lines 
are drawn across the field in both direc- 
tions, but in all cases the distance be 
tween the lines running one way of the 
field, compared with that of the lines 
running the other way, is in the propor- 
tion of three to five. In laying out an 
orchard in which, for example, the trees 
are to be 36 feet apart each way, the dis- 
tance between the lines running one way 
would be 18 feet (one-half of 36) and 
that between lines running the other way 
would be 80 feet. (Highteen is to 30 
as three is to five.) The stakes are then 
placed in the same manner as suggested 
for the quincunx system. The position 
of the fillers in the center of the diamond 
groups may also be located with this 
same system of lines. If more fillers are 
to be used, as previously suggested, lines 
nine feet apart one way, and fifteen feet 
apart the other way, will need to be 
drawn. A very simple method of laying 
out an orchard by this system, espec- 
jially on uneven ground, consists in the 
use of a wire triangle, like that shown 
in Fig. 4. This triangle should be made 
Fig. 4. A Wire Triangle Used in Laying Out 
An Orchard After the Hexagon Syatem. 
just the size of one-half the diamond 
formed by four trees; that is, each side 
of the triangle should represent the dis- 
tance between the permanent trees. The 
wire should be connected at each angle 
by means of a ring. The triangle is car- 
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
ried around by three people and the 
stakes located as shown on the margin 
of Fig. 3, Plate Il. If the triangle is 
always kept tightly drawn and held on 
the level, there should be no trouble in 
correctly locating the stakes, even on 
very uneven ground. 
C. D. Jarvis, 
Storrs, Conn. 
Rules for Various Methods 
Rule for the Square Method—Multiply 
the distance in feet between the rows by 
the distance the plants are apart in rows, 
and the product will be the number of 
square feet for each plant or hill, which 
divided into the number of feet in an 
acre (43,560) will give the number of 
plants or trees to the acre. 
Rule for the Hquilateral Method—Di- 
vide the number required to the acre 
“square” method by the decimal .886. The 
result will be the number of plants re- 
quired to the acre by this method. The 
meaning of the rule for the “square 
method” is that in dividing the number 
of square feet in one acre by the product 
of the distance in feet between the rows 
by the distances the plants are apart in 
rows, the quotient indicates the number 
of square blocks into which an acre is 
divided. Therefore, each block will have 
one tree placed in its center, which, of 
course, means that while the number of 
blocks are indicated by the rule the num- 
ber of trees are also shown. In making 
a diagram of any plot of ground the num- 
ber of squares will be indicated, and 
each square will have a tree in the cen- 
ter of it. This will give a turning place 
or strip on each side of the plot equal 
to one-half the distance between the tree 
rows. 
The rule for the “equilateral method” 
may be explained by stating that each 
tree, instead of growing in a triangular 
plot is really placed in a parallelogram 
whose longest side is equal to the distance 
between rows in the “square” method, 
and whose shortest side is equal to .866 of 
this distance; or the ratio of the per- 
pendicular drawn from an angle of an 
equilateral triangle to one of its sides. 
In making the tables decimals have been 
