THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
17 6 
bituary 
HOWARD E. MERRILL. 
Howard E. Merrill, aged 52 years, died March 22nd in 
the sanitarium in Canandaigua after a lingering illness. 
Mr. Merrill was the son of the late Andrew Merrill, of 
Geneva. He was born at Geneva, and lived there until 
the last few years of his life. Mr. Merrill received his 
education in this city, having been graduated from the 
Geneva High School and from Hobart College in the 
class of 1883. being valedictorian of his class and receiv¬ 
ing Phi Beta Kappa honors. He was a member of the 
Kappa Alpha fraternity. 
Leaving college he assisted his father in the nursery 
business and upon his father's death, succeeded to the 
business. For a time Mr. Merrill's nursery business was 
conducted both on retail and wholesale lines, but later it 
became entirely wholesale. In 1911 his business was in¬ 
corporated under the name of H. E. Merrill Company, 
and about that time he went to New York, where he be¬ 
came connected with a company that developed certain 
telephone and other electrical devices. He lived in New 
York for a time and then his health broke down and he 
was compelled to retire from active business life. 
W. P. STARK NURSERIES 
For a business that has onlv been started three vears 
W. P. Stark. Neosho. Missouri, has certainly brought to¬ 
gether a very efficient equipment. In the offices where 
the clerical work is done, he employs fifty young girls and 
women with all the modern inventions in the way of 
typewriters, stenotype. multigraphs, etc., for the rapid 
handling of their orders and correspondence. In the rear 
of the main office is a room 50 by 300 feet which contains 
the order filling bins where most of the reserve stock is 
stored. This room is artificially cooled and has a cap¬ 
acity for two or three million trees, which by the cooling 
process can be kept in a perfectly dormant condition un¬ 
til the end of the planting season. 
In two large rooms adjoining the cooling room on the 
west, is done the wrapping, shipping and boxing which 
is done by freight, parcel post and express. The Wells 
Fargo Express Company have installed a branch office 
right on the grounds. 
When the season is in full swing there are 80 men and 
boys employed in the shipping department. As there are 
no agents, the entire business being by mail orders, it 
will give some idea what a tremendous mailing list has 
to be kept running to keep such a business going. 
ENGLISH WALNUTS IN PENNSYLVANIA 
INCREASE OF FREIGHT RATES ON NURSERY STOCK 
F. D. Porter. Interstate Commerce Bureau. Chicago. 
Ill., called attention to the fact that the freight rates on 
nursery sock will be advanced 25 to 30 per cent, effective 
June 1. 1915. It is suggested that the advance should be 
protested as the transportation companies are likely to 
make a further advance next year, being disposed to take 
advantage of interests not protected by competent traffic 
managers as are all important branches of trade like the 
packing and steel industries. The interstate commerce 
commissioners and classification committee consider the 
following factors when making a decision: 
1. Value of the commodity as a rate basis. 
2. Competitive commodities. 
3. Different stages. 
4. Non-competitive commodities. 
5. Market value of commodities. 
6. Social considerations. 
7. Cost of service as a rate basis. 
8. Competitive commodities. 
9. If special service is rendered. 
10. Comparison with other commodities. 
11. Comparison with rates between other points. 
12. If carload or less than carload shipments. 
13. Distance. 
14. Advantage of locations. 
15. Vested interests. 
The English Walnut is attracting wide interest in 
Pennsylvania as a commercial orchard tree. Scarcely a 
week goes by at The Pennsylvania State College without 
receiving inquiries concerning this nut. These inquiries 
are usually prompted by the fact that already within the 
state are bearing trees which have proved both their 
hardiness and their ability to bear abundant crops of 
nuts equal or superior to the nuts found in our eastern 
markets, which are imported from the Old World. Cali¬ 
fornia or Oregon, the principal sources of our commercial 
supply. 
Because of the interest manifested, the Department of 
Horticulture of the College has planned a thorough in¬ 
vestigation of the subject. This will begin with a sur¬ 
vey of the state to determine the location of all trees. In 
order to make this survey as complete as possible, the 
Department urgently requests the assistance of every one 
who can give facts concerning such trees, especially as 
to location, character of nuts, age of trees, hardiness, etc. 
Owners of nut trees are urgently requested to correspond 
with the College. It is hoped that this information will 
be sent in to the Department without delay so that the 
trees may be visited by the investigators and fuller notes 
and observations made. 
Whoever is growing such trees is invited to write to 
F. N. Fagan, at State College. Pennsylvania, giving in¬ 
formation both as to the trees and to the property upon 
which they are located. 
Jonkoping den. Sweden. March 28. 1915. 
Inclosed my subscription for February 15 to June 16. 
I don't like to be without your always valuable and in¬ 
teresting paper. 
Yours very truly. M. P. Anderson. 
"We greatly appreciate the true value of the National 
Nurseryman." 
Forest Home Nursery. 
J. R. Jones, S. D. 
