Editing Cider apple (section)

=== Traditional orchard design ===
[[File:AppleOrchard.jpg|thumb|Old growth apple orchard in Ottawa, Canada]]The end of the 1950s saw a huge turn in cider apple [[orchard]] design, where before<ref name=":05">{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/apr/24/traditional-orchards-biodiversity|title=Orchards may vanish by the end of the century, conservationists warn|last=Morris|first=Steven|date=2009-04-23|website=The Guardian|language=en|access-date=2018-04-30}}</ref> traditional styles of orchard had been maintained for centuries. Traditional orchards are now uncommon, though they can still be found in places like [[Spain]] where most growers have maintained traditional systems.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last1=Vysini|first1=Eleni|last2=Dunwell|first2=Jim|last3=Froud-Williams|first3=Bob|last4=Hadley|first4=Paul|last5=Hatcher|first5=Paul|last6=Ordidge|first6=Matthew|last7=Shaw|first7=Michael|last8=Battey|first8=Nick|date=September 2011|title=Sustainable Apple Production|url=http://www.archiveofciderpomology.co.uk/archivereports/sustainableciderappleproduction7.2.4.pdf|journal=Archive of Cider Pomology|volume=7/2/4|pages=1–145|via=University of Reading}}</ref> Traditional orchards were designed with large spacing between individual large trees;(6–12 meters tall and spaced about 7.6–9 meters apart<ref name=":3" />) typically, less than 150 trees per hectare.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/traditional-orchards/traditional-orchards.htm|title=The Traditional British Orchard|website=www.buildingconservation.com|access-date=2018-04-30}}</ref> Trees within an orchard were more variable in age; individual trees would be grown until they died and a new tree would be planted in its place.<ref name=":12">{{Cite journal|last1=Elings|first1=Jelger|last2=Kirimbo|first2=Godlove|last3=Li|first3=Xuqing|last4=Mandal|first4=Palash|last5=Van Schelt|first5=Tim|last6=Villa|first6=Jorge|date=2017|title=Enhancing biodiversity in traditional fruit orchards|url=http://www.ijsselboomgaarden.nl/SiteFiles/1/files/Final%20Report%20Advice%20biodiversity%202017_docx.pdf|journal=Red Apple: Ecological Consultancy Bureau|pages=1–60|archive-date=2022-03-11|access-date=2018-05-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220311211717/http://www.ijsselboomgaarden.nl/SiteFiles/1/files/Final%20Report%20Advice%20biodiversity%202017_docx.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> Older trees in traditional orchards can grow gnarled and [[Tree hollow|hollowed]] for the tree's entire lifespan.<ref name=":05" /> The large (7.6 meter) spherical-shaped canopies of traditional methods differ from various planting systems that use conic, flat planar or v-shaped styles.<ref name=":3" />[[File:Orchard3.jpg|thumb|Traditional apple orchard in Eastwood, Essex]] Traditional orchards were often [[Intercropping|intercropped]]: it was particularly common to use a [[Silvopasture|silvopastoral]] system that combined [[fruit tree]]s and [[pasture]].<ref name=":3" /> The natural grasses forming the orchard's [[undergrowth]] were often [[Grazing|grazed]] by sheep or cows:<ref name=":12" /> the English "grass orchard" was particularly associated with cider producing districts.<ref name=hoare212>Hoare, A. (1928) ''The English Grass Orchard and the Principles of Fruit Growing'', Benn, p.212</ref> Management techniques did not use [[fertiliser]] or chemicals, other than the natural fertilisation from the dung of grazing cattle, and generally required less training than modern, high-density systems.<ref name=":22">{{Cite web|url=https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/high-density-apple-orchard-management|title=High Density Apple Orchard Management {{!}} NC State Extension Publications|website=content.ces.ncsu.edu|language=en-US|access-date=2018-04-30}}</ref> Budding of scions took place high up in the tree, typically using vigorous rootstocks or seedlings.<ref name=":3" /> Traditional orchards have been found to produce apples with lower nitrogen content and higher polyphenolic levels.<ref name=":3" />

In recent years, there has been a decline in the numbers of traditional cider orchards and a corresponding loss of orchard design knowledge between generations of apple growers.<ref name=":05" /> Traditional orchards have, for example decreased by about 20% since 1994 in parts of Germany.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Schmalzl|first=Johannes|date=July 2014|title=Protection of Wild Birds in Traditional Orchards of the Central Swabian Alb Foothills and Central Valley of the River Rems|url=http://www.life-vogelschutz-streuobst.de/images/stories/abschlussbroschre_englisch_web.pdf|journal=Regierungsprasidium Stuttgart|pages=1–19}}</ref> The decline is partly attributed to the high maintenance demands of large trees and the physical limitations for apple pickers,<ref name=":22" /> the low yield (10-12 tons per hectare,<ref name=":3" />) the slow cropping of trees (15 years compared to the average 8 years of high-density orchards,<ref name=":3" />) and [[Cider in the United States|historical changes]] in regional alcohol preferences. During the 1950s, [[France]] subsidised growers who converted to high-density orchards. By the 1990s, most of France no longer used traditional orchard styles.<ref name=":3" /> By the 1970s, traditional style orchards were only used for making 25% of the [[cider in the United Kingdom]].<ref name=":3" />