THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
09 
a. McGill. 
Mr. McGill was born in Western Ontario, Canada, and his 
early life was spent on the farm, where he passed through 
and graduated from the public schools, and for a short time 
attended one of the higher institutions of learning in that 
country. 
From boyhood his mind was bent on commercial pursuits, 
and at the early age of sixteen in 1882 he engaged with the 
firm of E. C. Pierson, nurserymen of Waterloo, New York, 
as travelling salesman, and from the very beginning was 
eminently successful in his chosen calling. On account of 
his extreme youth, he was known all over Western Ontario 
as the baby tree-man. Being ambitious and energetic he 
at once pushed himself to the front, as a successful nursery 
saeseman, and in four years was the leading salesman amongst 
a large force on the road for the Waterloo nurseries. 
In the spring of 1886, he in company with his brother 
P. -I. McGill, formed a partnership, under the firm name of 
McGill Bros., of London, Ontario, as dealers in nursery stock, 
and for the next five years he was the lead¬ 
ing spirit in that firm, and built up a large 
and profitable business. 
Being ambitions to increase the firm’s 
trade faster than his partner desired, he 
sold out his interest to his brother, and 
at once started for the west, first going to 
the state of Washington and the next year 
to Oregon. In .the following spring he 
formed a partnership with M. McDonald, 
.who was for five years in the employ of 
the old firm of McGill Bros. The new 
firm was known as McGill & McDonald, 
and did business under that name for three 
years, when the Oregon Nursery Co. was 
incorporated, and he became secretary and 
treasurer, which position he still holds. 
It is largely due to his untiring energy 
and push, together with close application 
to the details of the nursery business 
that his company stands out prominent 
amongst all the leading nurseries on the Pacific coast to-day, 
whose operations extend from British Columbia and the Canad¬ 
ian Northwest territories in the north to California, Arizona, 
Texas and Old Mexico on the south. This enterprising com¬ 
pany, not content with having covered the Pacific coast with 
their salesmen have during the past winter opened an office 
in Detroit, Michigan, where men will be managed and sales 
pushed throughout the entire Eastern States and Canada. 
Mr. McGill is amongst the youngest of the nurserymen in 
the United States who represents large nursery interests. 
His company being amongst the most extensive operators 
in the production and sale of nursery products in the whole 
country. ■ 
He has always taken a great interest in association work, 
and was instrumental in the formation and building up of 
the old Oregon Nurserymen’s Association, and one of the 
leaders in the formation of the Pacific Coast Nursery Asso¬ 
ciation, which association is now in active operation, and 
doing some good work for the nurserymen of the Pacific 
coats. 
REMLINOER BROTHERS. 
Vancouver, Wash, May 12—“Will say in regard to last 
season’s business that it was fully up to expectations, the 
demand for trees being very brisk and collections very good. 
As for the future, we think the outlook from a nurseryman’s 
standpoint is very bright. 
Vancouver, now headquarters for the great prune indus¬ 
try of Clarke county, which we believe ranks all other sec¬ 
tions in the Northwest, is also the great military reserva¬ 
tion on which the government is now spending thousands of 
dollars. Its present site was once the Hudson Bay Com¬ 
pany’s headquarters when the major portion of the North¬ 
west was claimed by the British.” 
CHICO NURSERY COMPANY. 
Chico, Cal, May 16 —“The only fault that we have*to 
find with the past season is that we did not have nearly 
enough trees to supply our trade. Our stock of peaches, 
cherries and prunes were exhausted very 
early in the season, and we had to turn 
down orders for trees at the latter end. 
The season’s business has been all around 
a good one with us; collections have been 
fairly good, and the prospect for the future 
is very bright. We will have a very large 
stock for the coming season. 
“It is rather too early at this time to 
report on sales for the coming year. We 
believe that the nursery business generally 
is in a very healthy condition, and espec¬ 
ially so in our section of the state.” 
A. McGill, Salem, Ore. 
Oregon Nursery Co. 
AT NEWARK, N. Y. 
Newark, N. Y, May 3— Jackson & 
Perkins Co.: “ It appears as if the weather 
man of this section had been on our side 
this spring for the cool weather during 
April was just what we needed to keep 
stock dormant and lengthen out the shipping season. The 
frost remained in the ground here usually late, we were 
unable to do much digging before the fourth to the fifth 
of April, this obliged us to keep our Western and South¬ 
ern customers waiting awhile for some items, but fortu¬ 
nately we got a pretty complete assortment into our 
cellars last fall before the winter shut down on us. 
“So far as sales are concerned, we are pretty well cleaned 
up and have nothing to complain of. There appeared to 
be some slump in prices after midwinter on nearly all lines 
of stock. It was caused, we presume, by the falling off of 
retail sales consequent on the remarkably severe weather 
that prevented salesmen from getting about. From all we 
can learn, however, the last few weeks of the season wore 
exceptionally good with most of the leading retailers and 
partly made up for the smaller sales of the winter. We 
believe that very little stock of marketable sizes was carried 
over and seen no reason to expect especial surplus in any 
lines next season.” 
