Tree large, very vigorous, spreading, open-topped, productive; branches thorny, shaggy, with long and unbranched limbs; branchlets willowy, slender; leaves folded upward, oval, one and three-quarters inches wide, three and one-quarter inches long, thin; margin shallowly crenate, with small, dark glands; petiole slender, pubescent, with from one to three small glands; blooming season late, long; flowers appearing after the leaves, nearly three-quarters inch across, white, pinkish as they open, with a disagreeable odor; borne in twos or threes; anthers yellow with an orange-red tinge.
Fruit maturing later than Wild Goose; large, one and three-eighths inches by one and one-eighth inches in size, obovate, slightly necked, pear-shaped, bright red, covered with thin bloom; dots conspicuous; stem slender, long; flesh deep yellow, juicy, coarse and fibrous, subacid, flat; of fair quality; stone clinging, three-quarters inch by three-eighths inch in size, somewhat angular, irregular-obovate, with a peculiar elongated, flattened, oblique base; apex abruptly acute; surfaces rough.
SPAULDING
SPAULDING
Prunus domestica
1. Lovett Cat. 41, Col. Pl. 1888. 2. Cornell Sta. Bul. 131:192. 1897. 3. Mich. Sta. Bul. 169:243, 248. 1899. 4. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 39. 1899. 5. Kan. Sta. Bul. 101:121, 122, Pl. V. 1901. 6. Waugh Plum Cult. 122. 1901. 7. Ohio Sta. Bul. 162:239. 1905.
Among the plums of comparatively recent introduction Spaulding holds a conspicuous place. It is particularly highly spoken of for its good quality and while not recommended for commercial orchards is often mentioned as very desirable for home use. As Spaulding grows at this Station, it does not sustain the reputation it has elsewhere. It is of the Reine Claude group of plums and while of high quality is not as good a dessert plum as several other similar sorts. Moreover, the fruits are small and too light in color to be especially attractive in appearance. The plums, too, are quite susceptible to brown-rot. The tree-characters of this variety are in the main very good but not at all out of the ordinary. It is very doubtful whether this sort can compete for any purpose with such similar plums as Hand, Jefferson, Washington, Bavay, Reine Claude, McLaughlin and Imperial Gage. It may be worthy a trial elsewhere in New York with the hope that it will more nearly approach the reputation that it has in other states than it does at Geneva—at best it cannot be more than a home variety.
Spaulding was brought to the notice of fruit-growers by J. T. Lovett, Little Silver, New Jersey, who introduced the variety in 1888. The plum came to Mr. Lovett from Francis Garriel with the statement that it originated as a seedling in the yard of Mr. Garriel’s father in the Bowery, New York City. From the resemblance of Spaulding to the Imperial Gage it is probable that they are closely related. In 1899 the variety was placed on the fruit catalog list of the American Pomological Society as a successful variety in the north-eastern part of the United States and the neighboring parts of Canada.