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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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