year, and will be held partly at the College, in botany, bacterio- 

 logy, chemistry, entomology, etc., and partly at the Institute in ci- 

 der-making and fruit-growing. 



Research is also being conducted at the College in conjunction 

 with the Institute. This should prove of very great value, as under 

 present conditions at the Institute it is impossible alone there to 

 cope with more than a portion of that which urgently demands at- 

 tention. 



The investigations at present being jointly undertaken deal with 

 organisms in cider, and fungoid diseases of fruit trees, and also, 

 partly from the geological, physical and chemical, and partly from 

 the practical cider-making point of view, with the soils of certain 

 typical orchards in that part of the country. 



Finances of the National Fruit and Cider Institute. The expen- 

 diture during the year amounted to i 058. Grants from the 

 contribuing counties amounted to 550, and [from the Bath and 

 West Society to 100, while 76 was received in fees from 

 members and from affiliated societies; sales amounted to 169 and 

 miscellaneous receipts to 44. The Board made a grant of 300. 



B. T. P. BARKER (National Fruit and Cider Istitute). The Rate 

 of Fermentation of Ciders and Perries. The Journal of 

 Agricultural Science, Vol. Ill, Part. I. December 1908. 



Variations in the rate of fermentation of ciders and perries led 

 to investigations of the various factors acting in this process 



Chemical composition of the juice with specialjegard to "sours " 

 "sweets" and " bittersweets " juices and the quantity of malic 

 acid and tannin present in relation with the state of ripeness of 

 the fruit at the time of making were studied; also the organisms 

 taking part in fermentation, the temperature at which the fermen- 

 tation was conducted, and the aeration of the cider. 



The addition of assimilable nitrogen causes an increase in the 

 rate of fermentation and the effect is so pronounced that the factor 

 of the quantity of such substances naturally present in the juice is 

 quite sufficient in itself to account fully for the differences in the 

 rate of fermentation of any ciders made and fermented under similar 

 conditions. The addition of ammonium tartrate to juices from ripe 

 fruit causes a decided increase in the rate of fermentation, thus 

 showing that the comparatively slow rate is due very considerably 

 at least to a deficiency of assimilable nitrogenous material. Muci- 



