THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
371 
system which fails to discriminate sufficiently between grades 
expressing quality and types of fruit. At a late meeting of 
the Ontario Fruit Growers’ Association, a prominent jobber 
expressed the opinion that the ideal method entails the 
establishment of an American depot or distributing ware¬ 
house in each of the English cities. He believed that if such 
a warehouse, equipped with cold storage facilities, were 
established, where consumers were taught to realize that 
they could depend upon a continuous .supply of good fruit, 
that such a system would engender confidence and vastly 
stimulate the sale and distribution of American fruits at 
better, prices than are now secured. His plan was to organize 
a delivery system, direct from the warehouse to the consumer. 
This would be by means of delivery vehicles, either hand 
carts, such as are frequently used in the European cities, or 
wagons, after the American fashion, but by such means as 
would bring to the consumer fruit carefully graded, either in 
bulk to be sold by the pound, or in uniform packages of small 
size. His estimate was that apples could be sold profitably 
at 3 d. per pound for the better grades, and that at this 
figure it would return a net price of $3.70 per bbl. This 
assumed that the cost of selling would amount 
to $1.00 per barrel and the cost of carriage 
would amount to about the same thing. 
There is no doubt that while such a scheme 
would bring the producer and consumer very 
close together and Giminate the profits of 
the middle man to a large degree, it would at 
the same time arouse the keen opposition of 
the produce trade, and we can easily conceive 
that a company or organization attempting 
such a trade in England would meet with very 
determined competition from those already es¬ 
tablished in the trade. Nevertheless, there is 
much in the scheme to command attention 
and probably enough in it to warrant a care¬ 
ful trial being given. ^ 
Within the past six weeks, death has re- 
VETERANS moved two very prominent figures from 
MOVING ON the ranks of the nurserymen of the 
country. These are Major W. F. Heikes 
of Huntsville, Alabama, manager and founder of the Hunt¬ 
sville Wholesale Nurseries, and Lewis Chase of the well 
known firm of Chase Brothers, Rochester. Mr. Heikes 
passed away during the last week of August, and Mr. Chase 
during the first week of September. 
Mr. Heikes, the founder of the Huntsville Wholesale 
Nurseries, came from a family of nurserymen. His great¬ 
grandfather, Andrew Heikes, established a nursery business 
at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in 1798. His son, George Heikes, 
moved to Dayton, Ohio, and there engaged in the nursery 
business in 1822, and is credited with being the first man to 
propagate trees west of the Alleghanies by the root grafting 
method. Jacob Heikes, a son of George Heikes, established 
himself in the nursery business near Dayton* Ohio, in 1839, 
and was succeeded by his son Mr. W. F. Heikes, in 1866. 
In response to the exceptional opportunity for the produc¬ 
tion of nursery stock in a wholesale way offered by the 
climate and economic conditions of Alabama, Mr. Heikes 
moved to Huntsville in 1872, where he organized the well 
known Huntsville Nurseries, which have become so well 
known in the wholesale nursery world. 
Few men have passed away whose removal has been so 
thoroughly regretted. Mr. Heikes was noted for his retiring, 
modest disposition, but at the same time, he possessed a 
quality of genial warmth which was soon recognized and 
always appreciated. The Nurseryman’s office has received 
several impressive tributes to the worth and character of 
Mr. Heikes, both as a business man, and as a citizen. Promi¬ 
nent among these is one from past President W. P. Stark, 
whose business relations brought him very close to the 
deceased. 
In the business world, Mr. Heikes may be said to be the 
father of standardization methods in the handling of nursery 
stock. He established shipping depots in different parts of 
the country, from whence his large stock of trees were dis¬ 
tributed. These were always graded with great care, and in 
buying such stock nurserymen were satisfied that it was 
exactly as represented. The contribution which Mr.Heikes 
has made to the business aspects of the nursery industry will 
stand as a worthy monument to a life well 
spent. His business integrity, his patriotic 
interests in advancing the fruit interests of 
the country as a whole and Alabama in particu¬ 
lar, for he was well known as the president of 
the State Horticultural Society, leave an envi¬ 
able record, and a model for the young men of 
the country to live up to. 
Lewis Chase might be regarded as occupy¬ 
ing the place of the dean of the nurserymen of 
Rochester. He was born in Maine in January, 
1830, at Chase Mills, named after the family. 
It was here that he began the nursery busi¬ 
ness in 1857, associated with his two brothers, 
Ethan A. and Martin B. In 1868 Ethan A. 
and Lewis Chase came to Rochester, l^ewYork, 
and established a nursery in that city. They were pioneers 
in the business along with Patrick Barry and George Ell- 
wanger. The firm was incorporated in 1878 'under the 
name of Chase Brothers Company. Lewis Chase was elect¬ 
ed president, and he held this office until his death, so that 
he remained in the harness, an original member of the 
firm, until the time of his passing at the age of eighty-one 
years. Mr. Chase is succeeded in the business by his children 
and grandchildren. He was even permitted to see two great¬ 
grandchildren. He was a member of the American Bornologi¬ 
cal Society, of the Ameriean Association of Nurserymen, the 
Western New York Horticultural Society, and expressed his 
interest in progressive horticulture by being constantly on the 
alert to adopt up-to-date methods in the growing of stock and 
the suppression of enemies which preyed upon it. 
J. A. Lopeman, of the Enid Nurseries, Enid, Okla., left 29th of 
August for a trip to Denver, Salt Lake City, Yellowstone Park and 
Idaho points. His orchard interests are beginning to require careful 
attention. Western orchards are an assured success—a good invest¬ 
ment. Mr. Lopeman expects to return to Enid about October ist. 
LEWIS CHASE 
The Dean of Rochester Nurserymen 
