Early Apples

First good apple of the season. "The book" says 'Ashmead's Kernal' is ready for harvest in mid-October. My experience has been late-September but this year, here we are not quite in the last week of August! They're not quite as sweet and sharp as I remember and they're about half the size. This may be due to the lack of rain although others note that this variety produces large fruit only when young. I may leave some of them for a couple of weeks although pest attacks are starting.