Tree vigorous, healthy, spreading, limbs straight, stout and compact, not liable to break with the weight of fruit. The original tree had borne annual crops of even sized fruit for twenty years. Fruit large to very large, regular, oblate, very handsome; Surface smooth, yellow, covered with bright red; Dots scattered, gray. Basin medium, wide, regular; Eye large, closed. Cavity deep, acute, regular; Stem short, small. Core regular, somewhat open; Seeds numerous, medium; Flesh yellowish, tender, fine-grained, juicy; sub-acid, rich; First quality, for table, market, cooking or drying; Season September to December. Compared with some of the best dessert apples of the season, such as Hawley, Fall Pippin, Fall Wine, Rambo, and others, this variety was declared to be "better than the best." =Osceola.= [Illustration: Fig. 103.--OSCEOLA.] Originated in Indiana, brought into notice by that earnest horticulturist, Henry Ward Beecher, who did much to stimulate the culture of fine fruits when a resident of that State. Fruit medium, flattened, sometimes unequal, regular; Surface smooth, slightly colored red, and striped with the same; Dots scattered, irregular, more frequent and minute about the apex, few and larger at base of the fruit. Basin wide, regular; Eye small, closed. Cavity medium, acute; Stem short. Core small, round, closed, clasping; Seeds numerous, plump, dark; Flesh yellowish, firm, rich, juicy; Flavor sub-acid, mild; Quality good; Use table and market; Season January to March. This variety does not seem to have won its way into public favor to the extent that was expected for it some years ago. =Pennock.= PENNOCK'S RED WINTER--ROMANITE--BIG ROMANITE. This fruit, of Pennsylvania origin, is not introduced into this collection on account of its excellence, but because it is so universally cultivated in nearly all parts of the country. Tree vigorous, large, spreading, very productive, bearing some fruit every year. Fruit large to very large, form variable, but characteristically it is conic-oblate, often unequal, and lop-sided; Surface greenish-yellow, covered with mixed and striped red; Dots large, irregular and round, gray. Basin wide, rather deep, uneven or wavy; Eye large, open. Cavity wide, deep, regular; Stem short. Core irregular, closed, meeting the eye; Seeds numerous, angular, plump; Flesh yellow, breaking, coarse-grained; Flavor sub-acid, poor; third quality; for cooking and market only; Season December; very much disposed to bitter rot. =Pennsylvania Vandervere.= VANDERVERE (Coxe and Downing)--LITTLE VANDERVERE--GRAY VANDERVERE--STAALCUBS, ETC. This old kitchen favorite, of Pennsylvania, has migrated westward until it has reached every State and county on its appropriate parallels of latitude, 39° to 42°.