6 to 



Model Cider Orchards. 



[NOV., 



for practical instruction. An area of about 25 acres of Dean 

 Forest is shortly to be handed over to the school as an instruc- 

 tional area, and the students are at present engaged in making 

 a new nursery ; in both of these areas all work will be done 

 by the students. Carpentry is now added to the instruction 

 given, each student working for two months in the carpenter's 

 shop. Increased facilities have also been given for practical 

 instruction in the laying of hedges. Arrangements are being 

 made to provide a permanent building for the school and 

 museum, and to provide lodgings there for eight of the students. 

 In future the minimum age of admission will be twenty years 

 instead of sixteen, and the student will be paid 15s. a week 

 instead of 10s. 



An additional area of 4 acres has been planted up in the 

 experimental plots at Abbotswood. The museum has been 

 improved by the addition of an excellently set up collection of 

 twenty-six species of injurious insects, showing their life histories 

 and the. damage they do to the forest trees, and by a collection 

 of the seeds of 250 species of trees and shrubs. 



It is hoped that by raising the age of entry, the students 

 when they have obtained their certificates will be fit to go out 

 as assistant foresters or head woodmen. 



The governing body of the National Fruit and Cider Institute 

 propose to present to the various bodies and county councils, 

 which contribute to the maintenance 

 Model Cider Orchards, of the Institute, a number of cider apple 

 and perry pear trees grown in the Insti- 

 tute nursery with a view to the establishment of typical cider 

 and perry orchards in the cider-producing counties. 



The Managing Committee of the Institute make the following 

 suggestions for the guidance of the county councils and other 

 bodies receiving these trees : — 



1. Investigations carried out at the Institute have demon- 

 stated that in making cider it is very important that fruit in 

 different stages of ripeness — some half-ripe, some fully ripe, 

 and some perhaps over-ripe — should not be mixed together ; 

 at each time of grinding the fruit used should all have ripened 

 at about the same time. It is also important in making a 

 blend of different varieties that all three classes — sweet, bitter- 

 sweet, and sharp — should be available for the make. 



