We, as in the Barrington site director and I, had heard about Lawsons a few weeks ago, and Thursday was the day to traipse up there to see what he had. I had phoned to confirm that he had June apple trees/Carolina June and that was one of the fruit trees we needed.
So just past noon we get into the car armed with mapquest and a bottle of water. The directions were fairly straight forward – north then west – 40 minutes. Traffic lights and road works were not too bad, and we were well on the way west in 15 minutes. Thats when things started to turn from urbanization to horse farms and country estates worth millions. At one point we realised that the road name had changed. About turn to get back to where we knew we were on B’ham Hwy, then figure out where it went missing.
We returned to the right highway and found our way to the correct road. We needed 2700 on the road. When we first saw a number it showed 3400, then 3600 then 4500, at which point we backtracked again. At the end of the road we still had not found 2700, so we pull in and phone. “Ignore the numbers, we are 2 miles past the warning sign” – sounded ominous, but back up the road we went. We came across a sign that indicated ‘caution – congested area ahead’. This was strange as it was an unihabited crossroads with no town, hamlet, farm or building anywhere close by to cause congestion – not even a hurd of sheep! A little further on we come across the sign for Lawsons.
The building was a modest little homestead type, with brown porch, dusty coke machine and two trucks parked outside. We entered and were met with a brown interior of unpolished, unpainted wood. An older gentleman was leaning against the table, chatting to a couple of younger men. One was in the rocker, the other in a chair. A vague aroma of parfin was inthe air. Every surface was filled with old hand tools, books,papers. The older man came forward to greet us, then introduced us to the younger men. They dropped by to buy trees every year or two and had stayed to chat. We chatted too – no rush in this part of the country. The site boss did most of the chatting, then he mentioned we ordered seeds from .??… he looked at me – ‘Rare Seeds’ I said. The others looked blank, until I said Baker Creek – they brightened. We moved on to talk about Seed Savers another place they used for seeds, and I mentioned the southern branch of that organization was a new area – we bonded, I had shown I knew something about plants. We continued to talk about peaches that grew on their grandfather’s farm, Jim Lawson talked about apples and peaches, and brought over a book from NY Agriculture Dept (1913) which he went thru finding the right picture. He talked about the yellow striped apple that he found, then was sent the ‘real’ yellow striped apple, then another one that didn’t have a yellow stripe at all, but was just pale red to give the affect. He talked in terms of which made the best pies, which pears were good keepers – he had grafted them all over the past 65 yrs or so (he is now in his 80s).
We finally go into the field to pick the trees we wanted. Along the way talked about apples from Europe and I mentioned the old, large, ugly pie apple -”Bramleys” he said, and yes he did have one but it was promised already. I will return in fall to pick one up. We were picking our trees, when I started to think about getting one or two for home as well, but after searching my bag for several minutes came to the conclusion that I didn’t have a check book or cash. We hadn’t thought about that. Robert had not brought the check book or cash either. No problem, you can send me a check when you get back Jim helpfully suggested, and wrapped the barerooted trees into the bags and burlap.
On re-entry into the main building, I mentioned that we were looking for a late 19thC apple that was described as ‘red and firm, and shaped like a pear’. I have looked up and down for that variety of apple. He pulled out a 1903 apple dierectory and pointed to a page of red and yellow apples – apparently in that era ‘pear shaped’ referred to a long and skinny apple not one that bulged out at the base. I browsed the book filled with painted peaches and apples, while they filled out the sales slip. He pulled out a mid 20thc catalogue from Starks – the ones that looked the shape of modern newspapers – and pointed the Arkansas Black apple – he chuckled at the black painted image – that was how they first advertised it – it is a red apple, from Black’s farm. He talked about the Detroit apple that was mentioned in Jefferson’s papers. He supplied a northern apple, then found that the apple was really from Kentucky area, which called the apple the Detroit apple because that was the destination for most of that specific crop.
What an amazing gentleman – he knew and had grafted almost every commercial apple that hit the market over the past 70 yrs or so, and still does all his own grafting. I will return to study his books, and talk to him about some old varieties he may have, and hopefully we get to see his fields of trees that he grafts each year.
Definitely a day to remember, but it is sad to know that this incredible gentleman has so much knowledge that is not recorded and will go to the grave with him, at a great loss to those of us in the horticulture world.
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