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.