166.--THE LANDOWNER'S FENCES.

The landowner in the illustration is consulting with his bailiff over a

rather puzzling little question. He has a large plan of one of his

fields, in which there are eleven trees. Now, he wants to divide the

field into just eleven enclosures by means of straight fences, so that

every enclosure shall contain one tree as a shelter for his cattle. How

is he to do it with as few fences as possible? Take your pencil and draw

straight lines across the field until you have marked off the eleven

enclosures (and no more), and then see how many fences you require. Of

course the fences may cross one another.

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