T .Afll 
YORK 
^4 Talk With My Friends and Patrons 
I TAKE great pleasure in pre¬ 
senting you with a copy of 
my new 1917 Catalogue which 
I feel is a great improvement 
over my last issue; with new 
cultural notes which, if followed, 
will assist the amateur to receive 
better results in the future. I also 
take this opportunity of thanking 
my many friends and patrons 
have recommended, and favored 
me with their orders in the past, 
and to express gratification that 
my determination to furnish none 
but the best stock is so widely 
recognized. 
Three years ago I constructed a 
storage and shipping plant which is 
a great advantage to myself and 
customers. Under my present sys¬ 
tem I am able to ship stock from 
the time we finish digging, about 
November 15th, till July 1st the 
following year. 
This building has a cement cellar 
containing 11,700 cubic feet of stor¬ 
age room and 4,680 square feet of 
floor space. It is the largest build¬ 
ing of the kind in the world. I es¬ 
pecially invite all my friends and 
customers to make a personal in¬ 
spection of my plant. 
I have been acknowledged the 
largest Dahlia grower in the world. 
This last season I grew over 4,- 
000,000 Dahlia plants, nearly 35 
acres. I feel that this will be of 
great interest to the general public, 
who have in past years come long 
distances to visit my fields in the 
flowering season, through the months 
of August and September. My fields 
are kept open at all times for the 
inspection of the public. Visitors 
are always welcome. I am pleased 
at any time to assist the public 
with any information possible, pro¬ 
vided they will send return stamp. 
Mina Burgle—Decorative Dahlia (See page 29). 
My growing exhibits at the “World’s Fair”, St. 
Louis Purchase Exposition, Jamestown Exposition, 
Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition, Panama-Pacific 
Exposition, won honors of highest degree, ac¬ 
knowledging my stock universally unsurpassed. 
The past season I made more exhibits than ever 
before in the different states, winning first prizes 
m all of them. I dare say I won more prizes 
than any other firm in America in the past season. 
?.J* ^necessary to say anything regarding the 
exhibits I have made at the different horticultural 
and agricultural societies in the past. Every per¬ 
son knows that ever saw my exhibit that it was 
fully as good, if not the best, that was ever made 
in the place where I exhibited. 
, ^ ^°Vi- are f 9 r some first-class, up-to- 
date Dahlias, do not hesitate in placing your order 
m the hands of a firm who has been doing busi¬ 
ness for 22 years, and will give you good satis- 
• taction for your money. My stock is strong, sep¬ 
arated, field-grown clumps, with one or two eyes 
on a bulb, and guaranteed true to name. Al¬ 
though my stock is not overgrown, it is consid¬ 
ered much the better for amateur growers, as the 
stock has not been forced to any overgrowth 
which is very apt to take out of the stock rather 
than add anything to its value. While many 
large firms recommend and sell mostly Dahlia 
plants, and charge as much for them as strong 
roots, they are all right for a professional who 
understands the handling of them and wishes to 
build up a stock quickly, but I would not recom¬ 
mend them to the amateur. If cut off by any in¬ 
sect the plant is lost, but it is not so with bulbs. 
The sprout from a bulb if cut off by an insect will 
come again with two sprouts, so one does not feel 
aS they P a *d out good money for stock and 
at the end of the season had nothing to show 
for it. In many cases I find that strong bulbs 
with good eyes or sprouts, do not always grow; 
so if any of my customers, after purchasing any 
of my bulbs, should have any of them fail to 
grow, after planting them, dig them up and mail 
them back with the label on them, and I will re¬ 
mail you one in place of them ; but do not remail 
stock you have purchased elsewhere, as this has 
happened in some cases. 
I would recommend that customers order early 
as my orders are booked in rotation and shipped 
accordingly. My stock is tested before being 
shipped to my customers. I shall take as much 
pfiins in the future as in the past to send out 
nothing but first-class stock and to continue the 
same prompt, liberal and conscientious dealings. 
Hoping to receive a share of your patronage this 
coming season, I remain, 
Respectfully yours, 
J. K. ALEXANDER 
The Dahlia King 
(Copyrighted) 
East Bridgewater, Mass. 
January 1, 1917 
Long Distance Telephone Connection. 
