1908.] 



Cider Orchards. 



579 



by the results of experimental work, which has been carried 

 on at the National Fruit and Cider Institute. 



Selection of a site. — With regard to the selection of a site an 

 important point to be remembered is that, the more the fruit is 

 exposed to the sun, the better, cceteris paribus, is the quality of 

 the cider. Consequently the situation should be such that the 

 trees can catch the maximum amount of direct sunlight. A slope 

 facing southwards is perhaps best. The question of soil is 

 one that has not yet been exhaustively dealt with experi- 

 mentally. Cider-makers with extensive experience agree that 

 the best and most full-bodied ciders are made from fruit 

 grown on a heavy soil, especially clay. 



Methods of planting. — Details as to the methods of planting, 

 the distance of the trees from one another, and their general 

 treatment do not differ materially from those suitable for apple 

 orchards in general. It is, however, customary in the west of 

 England to allow cider orchards to become grassed over, even if, 

 as is the rule, they are not originally started on grass land. The 

 fruit, which is commonly gathered by being shaken off the 

 trees on to the grass, can thus be obtained in a reasonably 

 clean condition and free from adherent soil. 



Arrangement according to varieties. — The special feature 

 of a vintage orchard should lie in the selection and 

 arrangement of the varieties of the fruit. It is in 

 this direction that ordinary practice is most unsatisfactory. 

 The large majority of the existing orchards are composed of 

 a very large number of varieties, with but few trees — or some- 

 times one only — of a kind. No attention seems to have been 

 paid to the proportions of the different types referred to above. 

 Thus some orchards consist mainly of sharp fruit ; others of 

 sweet or bitter-sweet sorts. Cider made from the produce 

 of any one of such orchards may obviously be of inferior quality 

 on account of the predominance of one or the other type. 

 To obtain the best results, it is necessary to blend it with fruit 

 of the types which are deficient obtained from other orchards ; 

 or to utilise only a portion of the fruit of the predominating 

 type. Other drawbacks of these miscellaneous orchards are, 

 that all the varieties do not ripen at the same time, the fruit- 

 gathering season in a single orchard thus being spread over 

 probably the whole cider-making season from September to 



