to say, four trees may
be in a straight line irrespective of other trees (or the house) being
in between. After the last puzzle this will be quite easy.

208.--A PLANTATION PUZZLE.

[Illustration]

A man had a square plantation of forty-nine trees, but, as will be seen
by the omissions in the illustration, four trees were blown down and
removed. He now wants to cut down all the remainder except ten trees,
which are to be so left that they shall form five straight rows with
four trees in every row. Which are the ten trees that he must leave?

209.--THE TWENTY-ONE TREES.

A gentleman wished to plant twenty-one trees in his park so that they
should form twelve straight rows with five trees in every row. Could you
have supplied him with a pretty symmetrical arrangement that would
satisfy these conditions?

210.--THE TEN COINS.

Place ten pennies on a large sheet of paper or cardboard, as shown in
the diagram, five on each edge. Now remove four of the coins, without
disturbing the others, and replace them on the paper so that the ten
shall form five straight lines with four coins in every line. This in
itself is not difficult, but you should try to discover in how many
different ways the puzzle may be solved, assuming that in every case the
two rows at starting are exactly the same.

[Illustration]

211.--THE TWELVE MINCE-PIES.

It will be seen in our illustration how twelve mince-pies may be placed
on the table so as to form six straight rows with four pies in every
row. The puzzle is to remove only four of them to new positions so that
there shall be _seven_ straight rows with four in every row. Which four
would you remove, and where would you replace them?

[Illustration]

212.--THE BURMESE PLANTATION.

[Illustration]

A short time ago I received an interesting communication from the
British chaplain at Meiktila, Upper Burma, in which my correspondent
informed me that he had found some amusement on board ship on his way
out in trying to solve this little poser.

If he has a plantation of forty-nine trees, planted in the form of a
square as shown in the accompanying illustration, he wishes to know how
he may cut down twenty-seven of the trees so that the twenty-two left
standing shall form as many rows as possible with four trees in every
row.

Of course there may not be more than four trees in any row.

213.--TURKS AND RUSSIANS.

This puzzle is on the lines of the Afridi problem publi