agrance, debating the origins and the histories, and testing them with
the utmost precaution and deliberation; and I follow to hear their
judgment.

This kind of apple is very perfect in spherical form, deeply cut at the
stem, well ridged at the shallow crater, beautifully splashed and
streaked with carmine-red on a yellowish green under-color, finely
flecked with dots, slightly russet on the shaded side, apparently a good
keeper; its texture is fine-grained and uniform, flavor mildly subacid,
the quality good to very good; if the tree is hardy and productive,
this variety is to be recommended to the amateur for further trial! The
next sample is somewhat elongated in form, rather below the average in
color, the stem very long and well set and indicating a fruit that does
not readily drop in windstorms, the texture exceedingly melting but the
flavor slightly lacking in character and therefore rendering it of
doubtful value for further test. Another sample lacks decidedly in
quality, as judged by the specimens on the table, and the exhibitor is
respectfully recommended to withdraw it from future exhibitions; another
kind has a very pronounced aromatic odor, which will commend it to
persons desiring to grow a choice collection of interesting fruits;
still another is of good size, very firm and solid, of uniform red
color, slightly oblate and therefore lending itself to easy packing,
quality fair to good, and if the tree bears such uniform samples as
those shown on the table it apparently gives promise of some usefulness
as a market sort. My older friends, if they have something of the
feeling of the pomologist, can construct the remainder of the picture.

In physical perfectness of form and texture and color, there is nothing
in all the world that exceeds a well-grown fruit. Let it lie in the palm
of your hand. Close your fingers slowly about it. Feel its firm or soft
and modelled surface. Put it against your cheek, and inhale its
fragrance. Trace its neutral under-colors, and follow its stripes and
mark its dots. If an apple, trace the eye that lies in a moulded basin.
Note its stem, how it stands firmly in its cavity, and let your
imagination run back to the tree from which, when finally mature, it
parted freely. This apple is not only the product of your labor, but it
holds the essence of the year and it is in itself a thing of exquisite
beauty. There is no other rondure and no other fragrance like this.

I am convinc