422 Summary of Agricultural Experiments, [aug., 



on hop leaves showed that even with 20 per cent, solutions, only 

 insignificant injury was done just at the tip of the leaves. This points 

 to the fact that little injury is likely to come from this source. All 

 possibility of injury would be removed by the first rain after spraying, 

 as all soluble constituents of the wash would be washed off, leaving a 

 layer of free sulphur with a little calcium sulphate or sulphite. 



Horticulture and Cider. 



Pruning of Apple and Pear Bushes (National Fruit and Cider Institute 

 Report, 1909). — The bushes on which the pruning experiments are 

 being carried out were only laid out in 1905, and it is too soon 

 yet to draw any definite conclusion. At present it appears that 

 except for very strong-growing varieties, where root pruning is 

 probably desirable to force a crop, and for very weak-growing varieties, 

 where severe winter pruning may be required in the early stages to 

 encourage good wood formation, the less the trees are pruned the better, 

 when both growth and cropping qualities are considered. If this proves 

 to be the case it will confirm the results of pruning experiments carried 

 on under quite different conditions at the Woburn Experimental Fruit 

 Station. 



Use of Market Varieties of Apples for Cider (National Fruit and Cider 

 Inst'., Report, 1909). — Market varieties of apples are usually considered 

 of little value for cider-making, but it has been suggested that more 

 attention should be given to their use, as a means of utilising small, 

 unsaleable fruit, and of avoiding a glut on the market. A number of 

 market varieties grown in the Institute plantations have been analysed, 

 and small-scale tests have been made to ascertain the type of cider 

 produced. From the results it is seen that with very few exceptions 

 the juice is poor in sugar and tannin, while the acidity is high. The 

 rate of fermentation is excessively high for cider purposes. In the 

 report it is stated that it is clear that the use of market fruit alone 

 for cider-making in the usual way can only be extremely limited as 

 regards the type of cider produced. The kind of beverage produced by 

 ordinary methods will be a thin, dry cider, lacking in body and of 

 marked acidity, probably possessing poor keeping qualities, and exceed- 

 ingly liable to acetification. This has proved to be the case in the few 

 instances where tests on a practical scale have been made at the Insti- 

 tute in past seasons. These tests have, however, shown that it is prac- 

 ticable by suitable treatment to produce a palatable and marketable 

 beverage, even although it may not bear comparison with a cider made 

 from true vintage fruit. There has been nothing in the flavour of these 

 ciders to constitute any serious drawback, and indeed in one instance 

 it was so good that a really delicate dry cider was produced by suitable 

 blending. 



There appear to be two directions in which satisfactory results may 

 be expected. The first consists in the utilisation of a moderate quantity 

 of true vintage fruit of the sweet and bitter-sweet types to blend with 

 the market sorts. By mixing suitable proportions of each type it is 

 possible to obtain a juice of fair average richness in saccharine matter 

 and of modified acidity and astringency. Such a blend can be allowed 

 to ferment to dryness, and a very fair, dry cider may be produced. It 



