Dig -Bung 
PUBLISHED BY 
WAYLAND DAHLIA GARDENS 
E.R.Ryno. Prop. 
Wayland, Michigan 
SEASON CF1934 
Our Trade Edition of DIG & DUNG 
is sent only to growers, and as we 
assume these people know as much 
about dahlia growing as we do, wo 
try to devote more attention to the 
selling end of the business than to 
the growing end. Marketing a pro¬ 
duct at a fair profit is the big prob¬ 
lem at present, and we feel certain 
that any good ideas on this point are 
ahvays welcome and worthy of con¬ 
sideration. 
Of late we’ve been hearing a lot 
about “sleeping sickness”. That’s 
nothing new. I know a lot of fellows 
who have had this trouble for years. 
Try out your advertising copy on 
an imaginary customer. Take it to 
bed with you. Remember the cham¬ 
pion hog caller who talked in his 
sleep and woke up one night and 
found four shoats in bed with him. 
If you wake up and find a customer 
in bed with you, you may know your 
copy is good. “If it works on George, 
it will w T ork on anything,” as Gracie 
Allen says. 
The man wdio writes a catalog 
that is intended to bring the orders 
must understand crowd psychology 
just as well as an orator should. He 
is dealing with all classes of people, 
and he must not only get their at¬ 
tention and arouse their interest the 
first time they look through his cat¬ 
alog, but also convince them that 
they can serve that interest in buy¬ 
ing from him. 
You remember how Mr. Pickwick 
told Mr. Snodgrass that it was al¬ 
ways best to do what the mob does, 
and in case there were two mobs 
“shout with the largest.” And in the 
same connection, Mr. Perker speaks 
of the Honorable Samuel Slumkey 
who brings a cheer when he comes 
out, another cheer, much louder, 
when he shakes hands with the men, 
still another cheer, and a still louder 
one, when he pats the babies on the 
head, a roar when he kisses one of 
the babies, and so on until the 
shouts become deafening as he kisses 
’em all. That’s climax, but it gets 
the name on the dotted line of your 
order blank, just the same. It is 
this principle that makes a special 
collection, priced individually, and 
again at a reduction for the lot, 
bring the order. 
Bob Ingersoll once said that “in¬ 
asmuch as it takes a great national 
calamity to insure a Democratic vic¬ 
tory at the polls, you can't blame 
the poor fellows for always praying 
for an early frost or a scourge of 
potato bugs.” Can’t we blame the 
extreme hot wave of last June on 
them also? 
The December issue of THE 
AMERICAN HOME presents the 
Honor Roll of Dahlias. When I read 
this and turned to the advertising 
pages of the same issue and saw the 
ads of Burpee, Henderson, Schling, 
Dreer, and other national advertisers 
in the seed and nursery line, I could 
not help but think that these men 
who spend thousands of dollars in 
advertising with such magazines are 
hardly getting a square deal from 
the editorial departments of the same 
magazines. Does it look right for the 
editorial department to be boosting- 
varieties all the time that are not 
being sold by their advertisers? 
Would it not look better to see some 
mention of the standard varieties of 
dahlias such as the leading adver¬ 
tisers are offering, in the editorial 
section? It is up to your advertising 
agent to get such consideration from 
the publisher, and believe me, it will 
make your own catalog pages doubly 
profitable if you get some press 
agent service for your own listings. 
Most of the varieties which are 
“old” to the dahlia fans are as new 
to the general public as they w r ere 
to the fans two or three or more 
years ago. You don’t have to stock 
up on varieties that cost $5. or more 
each—simply because they are scarce 
as yet—to make a showing that will 
please your patrons. 
Conditions sometimes make cut 
prices practicable and necessary— 
but don’t you think that a cut which 
means an actual loss is folly? No 
concern can do business at a loss 
and continue doing so unless that 
loss is made up by cheating the 
creditors—or customers, and that 
means wmrse than failure in the long 
run. 
A medium sized tuber such as we 
produce on our sandy soil saves you 
a lot in postage, and we believe it 
makes a better plant than too large 
a tuber. The postage item alone is a 
mighty big one in any mail order 
business. 
Garden Books 
A few selected titles for your 
customers or your own bookshelf. 
Modern Dahlia Culture, by 
W. H. Waite_$1.50 
Rotk Garden Primer, by Archie 
Thornton_$2.00 
The Book of Annuals, by A. C. 
Hottes_ $1.50 
The Book of Perennials, by 
A. C. Hottes _$1.50 
The Book of Shrubs, by A. C. 
Hottes_$3.00 
Practical Landscape Gardening, 
by Robt. B. Cridland_$2.50 
Foundation Planting, by Leonard 
H. Johnson _ $3.50 
The Principles of Flower Arrange¬ 
ment, by Prof. E. A. White _ $3.00 
Practical Plant Propagation, by 
A. C. Hottes_$2.00 
Nursery Sales and Management, 
by Nelson Coon-$1.50 
Commercial Floriculture, by 
Fritz Bahr-$5.50 
Koster’s Color Guide, by P. M. 
Koster _ $5.00 
Discount to the trade only, 25%. 
If wanted by mail add 15c for post¬ 
age on each book ordered. Send for 
catalog of other garden books. 
WAYLAND DAHLIA GARDENS 
Wayland — Michigan 
