547 



whole of the land can be. made use 

 of by the former method with 

 very tmich less jiokinjj about of the 

 roots to lill odd corners than if 

 the latter lay-out had been chosen. 



And many ' of the advantages 

 which the trees derive from the 

 trian<;nilar desijjn are also feflt by 

 the men and teams wMch ha\ e to 

 work the orchard. The trianjjUs 

 are formed by the intersections of 

 three sets of straifj-ht lines, so that 

 there are three main lines of road- 

 way. But if the square method 

 had been adopted, these main 

 " lanes " would, be reduced to sets 

 of two instead of three. True, 

 they are slipfhtly narrower where 

 the plantinsj is triansjnl'ar, but in 

 driving throuo-h the orchard no 

 two trees are passed at the same 

 time : that on the rie^ht-hand will 

 ha\-e been left behind before the 

 vehicle comes abreast of the tree 

 on the left, so that the man can 

 watch both and damag-e neither. 

 But probably traffic is more 

 greatly facilitated bv the ease, of 

 turning in the triangular orchard 

 than by any other element of its 

 de.simi. An inspection of Diagram 

 2 will show how closely the hexa- 



gon fits round a circle ; the path 

 of a turning yehicle or plough is 

 approximately circular, so that 

 it is easily kept with the hexagon- 

 al space pro-yided. When turning 

 from one lane to another in the 

 scjuare orchard the turn mnst be 

 through an angle of 90 'degreesi;- but 

 in the triangular orchard this 

 angle is only one of 60 degrees. 

 The latter orchard, with its 

 eighty. seven trees per acre, ap- 

 pears to escape from damage at 

 least as well as those planted 

 with onh' seventy-five trees on the 

 " square." 



When comparing the various sys- 

 tems of lay-out, it is only the sets 

 of main lanes, or widest jjRssages 

 between the trees, in each design 

 which should he considered ; it is 

 to these that the trallic will event- 

 ually be confined, although the 

 beautifvdly radiating, but narrow- 

 er, lanes which are found in each 

 system may be made use of while 

 the trees are small. 



In the stjuare lay-out there are 

 only two sets of main lanes cross- 

 ing each other at right angles, but 

 if the triangular de.sign has been 

 adopted, the number of these wide 

 passages will have been increased 

 by 50 per cent., so that the or- 

 chard traffic can almost always 

 find a convenient short-cut in the 

 direction it wishes to take, and 

 tliis alone saves much knocking 

 about of the trees, because there 

 is less turning, and what there is 

 is through an easier angle. 



Apple orchards are usually estab- 

 lished on undulating sites. It is 

 very important that the furrows 

 of culti^'ation shall be taken in 

 nearly level contours rather than 

 up and down the slopes. If the 



\ 



furrows are nearly level it will 

 be found that storm water will be 

 encouraged to soak in and pro- 

 mote the welfare of the trees ; 

 but if the plough has been taken 

 up and down the slopes, each open 

 furrow will form a miniature 

 creek, and the best of the plant- 

 food and surface soil will be scour- 

 ed away, whereas the same furrow, 

 if level, instead of steeply sloping, 

 will form a trap to hold the water 

 and catch the particles of plant- 

 food with which it is charged. 

 Now, all ordinary hills and the 

 ends of ridges approximate to the 



circular form. IDiagram No. 2 

 shows how very much better the 

 lines of triangular i)ianting fit 

 round a circle (and con.sequcntly 

 round a circular hill or point of 

 ridge) than do the lines laid out 

 on the scjuare system. In practice 

 the ploughman finds it easy to fol- 

 low almost leVel lines, and when a 

 change in the slope of the groimd 

 is reached he has only to turn 

 through an easy angle of 60 de- 

 grees in order to follow it ; but if 

 the orchard had been planted on 

 the s(|uare the angle of turn would 

 he much more severe, and the 

 new direction of furrow would not ' 

 be level, but sloping as to en- 

 courage scour. 



At those seasons of the year 

 when thunderstorms are expected 

 " up-and-down " ploughing is dan- 

 gerous, but at other times cross 

 cultivation can be followed with 

 advantaire. Hither the sqtiare or 

 the triangular lay-out permits of 

 this work being done, but the 

 balance is in favour of the triangle, 

 because of the greatly reduced 

 amount of expensive hand-work in 

 keeping the orchard free of weeds. 



From every point of view, both 

 in nractice as in theory, the trian- 

 gular design is superior to the 

 square : it is better for the trees 

 and better for the men Ayho work 

 them, while its appearance is so 

 pleasing that it has only to be 

 seen to he appreciated. The wri- 

 ter recommends that it be adopted 

 in all but very exceptional cases. 



— The Planting Wire. — 

 No matter what the type of de- 

 "• be, many measurements 

 must be made in order that it be 

 correctly laid down on the orchard 

 ground. For this work there is 

 nothing so handy as a planting- 

 wire, and the small cost of making 

 one will be more than repaid, even 

 if only a very few acres have to> be 

 planted. It is made of No. 10 

 galvanized steel fencing wire, with 

 an iron ring at each end, ' and 

 soldered " buttons " to mark the 

 graduations. These buttons are 

 easily made bv twisting a few 

 coils of fine wire roimd the main 

 wire wherever a sfraduation mark 

 is required, and soldering it in ex- 

 act nosition. Before any gradua- 

 tion is attempted the plain wire 

 should he very tightly stretch p-d 

 over even ground, so that tv>>^ 

 mjeasurements alons^ it can he 

 easily and accurately made. It 

 he foimd convenient to make the 

 litflp coils which form the but- 

 tons, and slip them on to tv>e 

 main w're before its end rings arc 

 fastened on. 



The length of the planting wire 

 should be as great as can be con- 



2 



DETAIL SHOWING 75 TREES PER ACRE 

 IN SQUARES 24" SPACING IN TRIANGLES 26^" SPACING 



