4 BROOKE-HUNT on the National Fruit and 



P " Eesearch was commenced into matters connected with 

 cider-making, and it is possible that this, in course of time, 

 may lead to important results." 



The formation of the Institute, which forms the subject of 

 this article, may fairly be claimed as one of these results. 



As the value of the work carried out at Butleigh became 

 increasingly apparent, the question of the advisability of an 

 extension of operations, especially in the direction of research 

 into the action of the various yeasts and ferments which affect 

 the manufacture of cider, came under consideration. 



It was felt too that, however true it may be that research 

 must precede education, the educational side of the question 

 required development, and that some provision was necessary 

 for the instruction of those who might desire the same for 

 some continuous period, with a view of eventually becoming 

 practical and scientific experts in the art of cider-making. 



The need for further scientific research was emphasised by 

 a letter from Mr. Lloyd to the Board of Agriculture in the 

 early part of 1902, which formed the subject of a communication 

 from that body to the Society, and led to a meeting, in July of 

 that year, of many interested in the subject. At that meeting, 

 after full discussion, the feeling was expressed that the time 

 had arrived when the Board of Agriculture should itself take 

 the lead in the matter. This the Board was willing to do, and 

 a communication was subsequently addressed by the Board to 

 the Society and to the Education Committees of those County 

 Councils likely to be interested in the matter. This communi- 

 cation stated that the Board had reason to believe that the work 

 carried out at Butleigh had been of great value to cider-makers 

 and had assisted to raise the standard of cider manufacture in 

 this country, and to place it on a scientific basis ; but that it 

 was of opinion that the time had now arrived when the work 

 might, with advantage, be considerably extended. It appeared 

 to the Board that this could best be brought about by the 

 formation of a fixed Cider Institute, which should bear the 

 same relation to cider-making as the fixed Dairy Schools did 

 to cheese and butter-making. An Institute of this nature, if it 

 were established at some convenient place, such as Bristol, 

 would, on the one hand, act as a centre to which farmers and 

 cider-makers could come in order to obtain instruction which 

 would be of practical value to them in their business, and, on 

 the other hand, as a place where those who wquld act as 

 peripatetic teachers on behalf of County Councils, could get a 

 thorough training and be placed from time to time in possession 

 of the most recent information bearing upon so highly technical 

 a subject as that of cider-making. 



