Early Bradshaw 2.
This offspring of Bradshaw resembles its parent in tree, and in size, color and shape of fruit, though not so closely as to be readily mistaken for the older variety. Differences which distinguish the fruits of the two are: The Field is a trifle smaller, the fruit is more nearly round, lacking the prolonged neck of Bradshaw and is more plump at the base, the parent plum being markedly obovate; Field is earlier than Bradshaw, the latter difference accounting for the synonym, “Early Bradshaw.” The quality is not such as to commend either of these plums, but of the two Field is slightly the better. In tree-characters, Bradshaw excels in having a larger tree and in being more productive. The foliage of Field is very good, it ripens its wood well and begins to bear while young, but it is inclined to a biennial bearing habit which makes the average in quantity of fruit a little too low for a market plum which Field is, if worth planting at all. A good quality of this variety is that it withstands the brown-rot very well. It is doubtful if Field is worthy of a place in the fruit-growing regions of New York, unless, perhaps, where a plum of the Bradshaw type, but a little earlier, is wanted. Like Bradshaw, Field is comparatively little attacked by San José scale.
Field is a seedling of Bradshaw grown in Schoharie County, New York. It was first noted by S. D. Willard of Geneva, New York, in 1889, as “a variety worthy of cultivation.”
Tree of medium size and vigor, upright-spreading, dense-topped, hardy, productive; branches ash-gray, smooth except for the numerous, small, raised lenticels; branchlets slender, short, with internodes of medium length, greenish-red changing to brownish-drab, with a trace of red, dull, pubescent becoming slightly less so at maturity, with numerous, inconspicuous, small lenticels; leaf-buds below medium in size, short, obtuse, appressed.
Leaves folded backward, obovate, two and one-sixteenth inches wide, four and three-eighths inches long; upper surface dark green, nearly glabrous, with shallowly grooved midrib; lower surface sparingly pubescent; apex abruptly pointed, base acute, margin serrate, with a few, smallish, black glands; petiole seven-eighths inch long, thick, tinged with red, sparingly pubescent.
Season of bloom intermediate, short; flowers appearing after the leaves, one inch across, white, with a yellowish tinge at the apex of the petals; scattered on lateral buds and spurs, singly or in pairs; pedicels five-eighths inch long, thick, with few, short, scattering hairs, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes above medium in width, obtuse, slightly pubescent on both surfaces, glandular-serrate, somewhat reflexed; petals broadly oval, entire, tapering below to short, broad claws; anthers yellowish; filaments three-eighths inch long; pistil glabrous, shorter than the stamens.
Fruit mid-season, period of ripening short; one and seven-eighths inches by one and five-eighths inches in size, oblong-oval, compressed, halves equal; cavity shallow, narrow, abrupt; suture shallow, broad; apex roundish; color dark purplish-red, overspread with very thick bloom; dots numerous, small, russet, clustered about the apex; stem three-quarters inch long, sparingly pubescent, adhering well to the fruit; skin thin, slightly sour, separating readily; flesh greenish-yellow, medium juicy, sweetish, mild; of fair quality; stone clinging, one inch by five-eighths inch in size, ovate with roughened and deeply pitted surfaces, blunt at the apex and base; ventral suture broad, distinctly furrowed; dorsal suture acute.
FOREST GARDEN
FOREST GARDEN