ays seemed to me to be a pity.

"The third day in the morning, the wind having abated during the night, I
went down to the shore hoping to find a typewriter and other useful
things washed up from the wreck of the ship; but all that fell in my way
was a piece of timber with many holes in it. My man Friday had many times
said that we stood sadly in need of a square table for our afternoon tea,
and I bethought me how this piece of wood might be used for that purpose.
And since during the long time that Friday had now been with me I was not
wanting to lay a foundation of useful knowledge in his mind, I told him
that it was my wish to make the table from the timber I had found,
without there being any holes in the top thereof.

[Illustration]

"Friday was sadly put to it to say how this might be, more especially as
I said it should consist of no more than two pieces joined together; but
I taught him how it could be done in such a way that the table might be
as large as was possible, though, to be sure, I was amused when he said,
'My nation do much better: they stop up holes, so pieces sugars not fall
through.'"

Now, the illustration gives the exact proportion of the piece of wood
with the positions of the fifteen holes. How did Robinson Crusoe make the
largest possible square table-top in two pieces, so that it should not
have any holes in it?

96.--_The Fifteen Orchards._

[Illustration]

In the county of Devon, where the cider comes from, fifteen of the
inhabitants of a village are imbued with an excellent spirit of friendly
rivalry, and a few years ago they decided to settle by actual experiment
a little difference of opinion as to the cultivation of apple trees. Some
said they want plenty of light and air, while others stoutly maintained
that they ought to be planted pretty closely, in order that they might
get shade and protection from cold winds. So they agreed to plant a lot
of young trees, a different number in each orchard, in order to compare
results.

One man had a single tree in his field, another had two trees, another
had three trees, another had four trees, another five, and so on, the
last man having as many as fifteen trees in his little orchard. Last year
a very curious result was found to have come about. Each of the fifteen
individuals discovered that every tree in his own orchard bore exactly
the same number of apples. But, what was stranger still, on comparing
notes they found that the