THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
297 
the cars run 3 or 4,000 pounds above the minumum, and 
the nurserymen file claims for the amount, which, in 
some eases will run from $7.00 to $20.00 on account of 
dunnage, do not see how they can expect to still main¬ 
tain the low minumum which prevails at present. 
The Transportation Committee took the matter up w illi 
the Intersate Commerce Commission with a view to hav¬ 
ing such advances suspended, but on simply the informal 
complaint they declined to take action. Their letter is 
herewith reproduced in full:— 
May 29, 1915. 
“Referring further to your letters of the 19th and 
26th ultimo, and acknowledging receipt of yours of 
the 1st instant, you are advised that the Commission 
declined to suspend the operation of item 4. page 9, 
supplement 15 to Official Classification No. 42, 
Agent R. N. Collyer’s I. C. C. O. C. No. 42, which 
becomes effective June 1. 
doubt, nurserymen in general know that it will not be 
such a hard matter to load 18 or 20,000 pounds in 36 foot 
cars as it was years ago when cars were made smaller, 
a number of them being 32 and 34 feet. 
During the past 60 days railroad officials in the South¬ 
western territory have called upon the Transportation 
Committee for figures showing the amount of loss and 
damage claims filed by the nurserymen, stating Ilia I re¬ 
ports were coming to them that the nurserymen were col¬ 
lecting large amounts from the carriers on account of loss 
and damage, and this is, no doubt, going to he one of their 
reasons for trying to advance the rates in this and Soulli- 
ern territory. 
The above briefly represents about what has and is 
likely to take place in regard to transportation affecting 
the nurserymen during the past year, and in tin; near 
future. 
The new Storage and O/Jice Building of Wick Hathaway, Madison, Ohio. It is equipped with all the latest im¬ 
provements and made necessary by Mr. Hathaway’s rapidly expanding trade. He has now one of the largest, 
most up-to-date, exclusive small fruit nurseries in the country. 
It is the view of the Commission, upon considera¬ 
tion of the matter now before it, that it should not 
exercise its authority to suspend in this instance. 
The fact that the Commission has not suspended the 
new schedule carries with it no expression of ap¬ 
proval and is without prejudice to the right of any 
one to challenge in a formal proceeding the reason¬ 
ableness of the schedule protested against/’—C. R. 
McGinty, Sec’y Interstate Commerce Commission. 
The Transportation Committee will now place this on 
the Official Classification docket for the September hear¬ 
ing, and will endeavor to secure a fifth class rating with 
slightly higher minimum. If necessary, believe we 
should accept a 20,000 minimum rather than the 16,000 
minimum and the fourth class rale. The Transportation 
Committee will want a great deal of information from the 
various nurserymen, especially as to the value and actual 
weight of car load shipments, which information will he 
necessary to present to the Classification Committee. No 
RHODODENDRONS 
At the Arnold Arboretum 
In the Bulletin issued April 28th attention was called 
to the damage which the Rhododendrons in the Arbor¬ 
etum had suffered during the winter, and it was sug¬ 
gested that it was caused by the severe drought of the 
autumn, followed by the unprecedented drought of 
March and early April, and not by cold which had not 
been exceptional. The Arboretum Rhododendrons cer¬ 
tainly suffered from drought, but dryness alone will 
hardly account for such a destruction, for in other place's 
near Boston plants in much drier and more exposed posi¬ 
tions than those in the Arboretum are reported to have 
come through the winter uninjured. Some of the; plants 
which were killed here have been twenty-five or thirty 
years in the country. These plants w ere grafted on Bho- 
dodendron ponticum, a plant which is not hardy here and 
is therefore not a suitable slock for Catawbiense hybrid 
