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catch the little light there is at the top and instead of having a tree 
with tine wide-spreading foliage, there is something closely resembling 
a “ swizzle stick.” 
if height was all that was wanted for tapping then close planting 
would be the correct thing, but, as girth of stem and lots of leaf are 
the main factors necessary to ensure profitable yields, close planting 
undoubtedly fails. 
Fear of loss of crop through thinning should not deter any one 
from tackling a closely planted field as, if the thinning is done while 
the trees are fairly young, the remaining trees will quickly respond 
to the improved conditions and the crop will soon reach its normal 
figure and pass it, while the longer thinning is delayed, the more 
crop is to be lost. 
Disease too is a factor which has had a lot to say in the necessity 
for thinning out. As has been already stated, light and air are 
absolutely necessary for the well-being of the tree and nothing 
is more conducive to the spread of disease than closeness and damp. 
Another advantage in wide planting is that after rain the surface 
of widely planted trees dries much more quickly and allows tapping 
to go on early, while sometimes with close planting tapping is 
impossible for a few hours after a heavy shower. 
There is also the saving in labour and utensils, and 1 need not 
go into details to show this, as previous papers on the subject have 
dealt very fully with this point. It is obvious that if an acre with 
say 100 trees yields the same amount as an acre with 200 trees, there 
is a considerable saving in labour and only half the number of cups, 
spouts, etc., are required, while the percentages of output are bound 
to be to the advantage of the wider planted area, as there is half the 
number of trees, spouts and cups to give “ scrap.” 
Methods of Thinning Out. 
The difficult question for the planter to start with is whether to 
thin out by selection or remove every alternate tree if his original 
planting allows of this. 
On one estate the original planting was 20 ft. x 20 ft. and in order 
to get more trees to the acre this was interplanted with a quincunx, 
thus ' ■ ; * ; giving double the number of trees to the acre and if it 
were found necessary to thin out, the quincunx could be removed. 
The necessity soon arose, and when it came to thinning out, the 
ravages of Fomes, white ants, wind storms, etc., had been left out of 
account and many quincunx trees had to be left in to make up blanks, 
and it got so confusing in ■places that the original 20 x 20 line was 
frequently mistaken for the quincunx. 
The theory is all right as a theory. 
In ordinary square planting the best method in my opinion is 
by frequent selection. It takes much longer and seems to keep the 
