THE APPLE. 31 



Surface. The skin may be thick or thin, smooth or uneven, lumpy 

 or pimpled, rough, polished, covered with bloom, unctuous or oily, 

 sometimes russeted in whole or in part. The amount of russet varies, 

 especially about the stem. The color usually consists of two, the 

 ground-color of green or yellow, with over-color of red. When the 

 ground-color is not striped, the fruit is self-colored, although it may 

 be blushed or shaded. German writers term it one-colored. The color 

 is a conspicuous feature, but is modified by climate, season, soil, and 

 whether grown in shade or sunshine. Older trees usually yield better- 

 colored fruit. Only well-colored exposed specimens should be selected 

 for determination. 



Stripes are broad alternating lines of color. Streaks are long, 

 distinct, narrow stripes. Splashes are short, abruptly broken stripes 

 of all sizes. When marbled the stripes are wide, faint, waving, or 

 irregular. When washed or shaded the coloring is even, or changes 

 gradually, as in a water-color painting. When mottled the dots nearly 

 run together. When in part dotted, as in Utter, the red appears as 

 distinct dots. Blotched red is of various abrupt shades irregularly 

 placed. When clouded the blotches are broader and more softly shaded. 



A bright color is sometimes dulled by being overlaid with a whitish 

 or grayish color which is sometimes suffused, or by open russet net- 

 veining. In the latter case it gives a bronzed appearance. In a very 

 few varieties, especially Westfield, the russet about the basin resem- 

 bles a piece of bent dry leather, and hence is termed leather-cracking. 

 Pin scratches are minute dark lines running from stem to eye, espe- 

 cially on Tolman and rarely on Keswick; according to Van Deman 

 they never exceed five and in the Northern climates are much more 

 distinct than in the South or West. 



It is impossible to give the exact shade of red in an apple. It may 

 vary from light or pale red to black red. Crimson is a clear, beautiful, 

 dark red, with a slight admixture of blue. Carmine is a beautiful 

 darker crimson bordering on purple. Pink is a clear, bright, light red ; 

 rose is a delicate pink; orange red is when the red is mixed with yellow. 



Dots. These are more numerous towards the eye. As a whole 

 they may be obscure or distinct, many or few, large or minute, white, 

 whitish gray, green, yellow or russet, round, elongated, stellate (star- 

 shaped). When surrounded with light or green bases, they are called 

 areolar by some writers. The dots may be depressed, prominent, 

 even so much raised as to roughen the surface. 



