It may have seemed humorous at the time, but the fact of the matter is that the young man predicted, though unconsciously, what actually has come to pass; for the Lawson has sported into a white, red, variegated, and two or three shades of lighter pinks. The well-known Winsor itself is to this day believed to be a sport of Lawson.
Success of the Lawson Carnation
The introduction of the Lawson, as I said before, marked a new epoch in the history of the American Carnation. The old William Scott was no longer the standard among the growers. It had served its time, and served well. It was now the Lawson that every grower turned his attention to. But other good varieties were in sight. The advent of Enchantress was hailed with especial pleasure, for its delicate color and size of bloom marked it distinctly from any variety that had ever appeared.
Peter Fisher's Enchantress, Beacon and Benora
About a year or two prior to the introduction of Enchantress, J. D. Thompson had severed his connection with the Chicago Carnation Company and had embarked in business for himself under the name of The J. D. Thompson Carnation Company. It was Mr. Thompson's good luck to purchase the entire stock of Enchantress from Peter Fisher, and a mighty profitable deal it proved to him, and to put it on the market.
Peter Fisher, as I have already said of him, has become the latter day Carnation wizard. His introduction of these two splendid varieties has made him famous among Carnation growers everywhere. In fact the names of Dorner and Fisher conjured up in the minds of the Carnation growers, as they do to this very day, meritorious varieties well worth trying. Peter Fisher, as everybody knows him, is a man who boasts but little of his achievements. He lets his own work speak for itself. Nor is he a man who has ever evinced any signs of enthusiasm in his manner. He is cold in his attitude, rather reserved, though in many ways outspoken, yet at the same time a man whose honesty of purpose and absolute integrity in business transactions are not to be questioned for a moment. During one of the Carnation shows in Boston, a number of growers went out to his place at Ellis to view Beacon, at that time not yet on the market. Mr. Fisher took us through the place, and to the surprise of everybody, rather than expand upon its merits, he began to point out the faults of the variety. It was an orange red, inclined to fade in the hot weather; its color was by no means ideal; but, he concluded, it was a producer, a variety that would yield the blooms and bring money to the grower. Beacon has long since verified all of Mr. Fisher's claims about it. Beacon has held out longer than any red Carnation, maintaining its reputation to this very day.
Several years after the advent of Beacon, Mr. Fisher introduced the Benora, a splendid variegated variety, well known to every grower. Among the growers who went out to view it, there was a prominent man who was now and then inclined to resort to a "bracer" by way of a drink. Since Mr. Fisher never volunteered to "set 'em up"—Mr. Fisher is a teetotaller—the grower aforementioned asked him if he knew of a place in the neighborhood where cocktails or highballs were to be had.
"If you are thirsty, Mr. X," rejoined Mr. Fisher, "we can readily accommodate you. Here is the dipper and there is the pump. Drink all you can hold—and it will do you more good than a cocktail."
The pump, if I remember rightly, was not tapped at that moment.
