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Show SYSTFM IN PLANTING TREES j Rectangular Plan Has the Advantage j of Allowing Cultivation Both Ways Has Drawback. There are a number of systems that may be used in planting an orchard. or-chard. Each has Its defects and its strong points. The most common system sys-tem is the rectangular. According to this plan the trees are planted in rectangles rec-tangles or squares. The main advantage advan-tage of this scheme is that it allows cultivation both ways to the best advantage, ad-vantage, especially when the trees become large. It does not, however, give equal distribution of the trees over the ground nor does It provide the best Irrigation facilities, says the Denver Field and Farm. In planting orchards this way with the intention of thinning out later on one can easily make mistakes. The common mistake Is to plant trees twenty feet apart each way and thinking that by taking out every other tree the distance dis-tance will be increased to forty feet. On the contrary, they will be left in squares running diagonally across the field twenty-eight feet apart. It would be necessary to take out three-fourths of the trees to throw them forty feet apart. Another system is the quincunx, quin-cunx, which is not used to any great extent at the present time, but has many advantages and is desirable when fillers are to be used. It means planting in fives. One can make permanent per-manent plantings in the rectangle or square and then place another tree in the middle. When the trees crowd the middle one can be easily removed. In thus way one can plant seventy-five per cent more trees to the acre than by the simple rectangle. The hexagonal hexa-gonal system is based on the circle, but can be planted with an equilateral triangle. The trees are really planted in groups of seven, six trees In a circle with one in the center. It has the advantage that all trees are equally equal-ly distant and each receives the same distribution of air and light. However, How-ever, by this system, . cultivation is rendered more difficult than by the rectangular plan, especially when the trees begin to crowd a little and irrigation irri-gation becomes quite a joke in trying to spread the water so that each tree will get its proportionate share. While fillers can be used, the system does not work as nicely from a horticultural horticultur-al point of view as 'does the quincunx, quin-cunx, which is the most ideal where close planting or fillers are desired. |