BRAMLEY APPLE SCHOOLSPROJECT

Schools ProjectStudent Work

Sheets

‘From Bud to Beaker’

The Worshipful Company of Fruiterers______________________________

TRADITIONAL ORCHARDSTraditional orchards are a unique feature in the local

landscape. They can be recognised by the wide planting

distance of very large old trees and often rare varieties. Old

traditional orchards are those which could be at least fifty

years old and often consist of apple, pear, cherry, plum,

damson and cob nuts.

These orchards provide valuable surroundings for

plants and animals also known as flora and fauna e.g.

, wild flowers and often

supporting rare types of insects. Now the true value of these abandoned

traditional orchards as a landscape feature is just being realised, bringing

about the restoration of those surviving traditional orchards which will help

to protect our local heritage and look after the rare plants and animals.

Traditional grazing by sheep encourages a more widespread wild flower

population than that found in modern commercial orchards.

MODERN COMMERCIAL ORCHARDSCommercial production of fruit has changed

dramatically over the last fifty years with the mass

grubbing of traditional orchards, which were not

making the farmer any money, leaving just a few

scattered throughout the countryside. The

characteristics of a modern commercial orchard are

small trees planted very close together managed

intensively.

In these orchards you will not see because they will damage the trees by eating the bark of the trunks and eating the

branches.

grazing beneath the boughs

In both the traditional and commercial orchards

you will find bees and bee hives and these are

required for pollination of the flowers to

produce the fruit.

THE COMMUNITY ORCHARD

Visit fruit trees in your school garden or your Community orchard in your village.

To find out how old are the trees in the orchard count the

the picture opposite if you can find one. Many of the

old traditional community orchards are at least 50 – 70

years old. The tree opposite is at least 21 years old.

2. Are they big trees, how tall do you think they are?

3. How far apart are they growing?

Number of strides

Length of stride in metres

Distance between trees

in metres

Count the number of your strides paced between two trees. Measure the length of your stride. Multiply the number of strides by the length of your stride.

1. How old are the trees in your community orchard?

on a cut through trunk of a tree like

X =

Traditional trees are usually planted between 8 metres to 12 metres apart.

4. Is your community orchard a traditional or commercial orchard?

5. What type of fruit grows on them?

6. Do all of the fruit look the same in the orchard?

If the fruit are all apple but they look different for example some are

and some are or even

probably several varieties in the orchard.

7. Guess how many different varieties there maybe in the orchard?

in colour, this means that there are

Bramley Apple Cherry Pear Plum Cob nut

8. Why do you think so many different varieties were grown?

Here are a few reasons why there may be different varieties in the orchard. Some of

these varieties may have been bred in your area. What is the weather like during

flowering time where the orchard is sited? Do you think the fruit will transport well to

market?

9. Does the fruit all ripen at the same time?

Write a poem describing the orchard and weather at flowering time.

THE FRUIT YEAR

Look at the fruit tree and observe how it changes through the year from blossom to

leaf fall. Look out for the development stages in the pictures below.

1.Can you match the sentences with the correct stages in the pictures?

Stages in the Fruit Year Stage ?

In winter, the buds are already formed on the twigs……….

Blossom flowers are open and the bees visit them………………

Small fruitlets appear green……………………………………………………….

The fruit swells until it is ripe and ready to be picked…….

1.Flower Bud 2.Bud Burst 3.Full Flower

4.Honey Bee 5.Green Fruit 6.BramleyApples on Flower

POLLINATION

Pollination is needed for the production of fruit. Fruitlets appear when bees and other

visiting insects have brushed pollen collected from the flower’s anthers onto the stigma

of other flowers. The carry the yellow pollen on their legs.

The pollen then passes down through a tube in the style into the ovary of the flower. The

ovule is the reproductive cell which will become the seed when it is fertilised by the pollen.

Wind can also blow the pollen onto the stigma. When this happens we say the flower has

been pollinated and a fruit will grow with seeds in it. When the seeds are planted they will

grow into new plants and produce more fruit.

1. Can you draw a bee

visiting

this flower on this

picture?

2. Can you label the parts

of

the flower?

FRUIT PICKINGFruit has its season, but not all fruits ripen at the same time.

Cherries are picked in June and July, are picked from July to

Apples and

Often a good sign of ripeness is that the fruit is juicy when eaten.

1. Have you seen ladders being used by pickers in your local orchard? Do they have two legs or three legs?

Ladders with two legs are traditionally long

and tapered and have been used for

hundreds of years.

2. How many rungs were there on the ladders?

Picking in the orchard 1930-40’s

September and are picked from August to October.

a picture of the fruit found on the trees in your nearest orchard. Think about the texture of the skin; is it smooth or rough, shiny or dull? Consider using lots

of different and coloured materials.

FRUIT TASTING

Ensure all fruit is washed before tasting.

AppleCherryPearPlum

Dispose of any waste material carefully.

1. What flavours can you taste?

CHOOSE FIVE WORDS DESCRIBING TASTE FROM THE

TABLE BELOW AND PLACE THEM IN

THE FLAVOUR WHEEL

SWEET SYRUPY

ALMOND PINEAPPLE

LEMONY NUTTY

SPICY BUTTERY

SHARP BLACKCURRANT

GRASS MUSTY

SALTY BITTER

EXPERIMENT

ApparatusApple juice in four different flavours including Bramley.

MethodTaste all samples of juice separately and record by ticking the boxes in the table below which taste you preferred.

Results My

Results

Apple Juice

A

Apple Juice

B

Apple Juice

C

Apple Juice

D

Ist Choice

2nd

Choice

3rd Choice

Do not like

Now add together all the results for the class and fill the totals in the table below.

Class Results Apple Juice

A

Apple Juice

B

Apple Juice

C

Apple Juice

D

Ist Choice

2nd Choice

3rd Choice

Do not like

Plot the class results on a graph; this could be a block graph or a pie chart.

ConclusionWhich apple juice did the majority of the class prefer? Discuss why you think the class came to this result.