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CURTIS DAHLIAS 
1935 Greetings to Our Friends 
Last spring- we started our most successful dahlia year by 
propag-ating- extra fine plants, which we attended to personally. 
We sold all of our surplus stock, and later received letters 
from our customers who were more than pleased with our 
roots and plants and with the condition in which they w r ere 
received. One customer from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, wrote that 
the plants we sent him could not have been better if he had 
carried them from our greenhouse to his garden. We shipped 
plants west as far as California and east to Massachusetts. 
We then planted our own garden and watched it survive 
through three months of severe drought, then to come into 
bloom better than ever. Our dahlias were in bloom from the 
first of August to the third w r eek of October. 
Then came the week of the big Midwest Dahl'ia Show at 
Grand Rapids, the show that Michigan growers were de¬ 
termined to make the most outstanding dahlia exhibit in U. S., 
We were greatly disappointed when we had the worst cloud¬ 
burst that Ionia ever experienced, spoiling lots of blooms that 
we were planning on for the show. However by Friday morn¬ 
ing new ones had come out. We did not have so many but they 
seemed better than ever and we set up our display that we had 
been planning on so long. We felt greatly repaid for all our 
work and worry when we saw a blue ribbon placed on our 
display. 
We had many visitors from other states to visit our gar¬ 
dens this year. 
We wish to thank you all for your orders and the confidence 
you have placed in us and will do our best to merit a continu¬ 
ance of your patronage. 
MR. AND MRS. RAY E. CURTIS. 
MEMBER—American Dahlia Society 
Dahlia Society of Michigan. 
REFERENCES—Ionia Garden Club. 
Michigan Dahlia Society. 
How to Grow Prize 
Winning Dahlias 
The dahlia of today is one of the easiest of all flowers to 
grow and will produce more flowers, size considered, than any 
other flower grown, if these simple cultural directions are 
closely followed. 
CARE OF TUBERS UPON ARRIVAL—Upon arrival tubers 
should be planted at once if ground has been prepared for them, 
providing soil is not too wet to work. If soil is not ready, they 
should be very carefully taken out of the box in which they 
arrived, taking great care in handling so that the eyes or 
sprouts on tubers will not be broken off. They should then be 
put into a larger box of some kind, laying them flat in the bot¬ 
tom, and then entirely covering them with 2 or 3 inches of 
moist sand, sawdust, or soil, in order to keep them from shriv¬ 
eling or drying out. They should then be removed to a cool 
place in the cellar and left there until ready to plant. Under 
no circumstances should tubers be left laying around uncovered 
after they are received, as exposure to light and air is very 
harmful to the tubers, causing- the eye or sprout to dry up or 
rot out. which is generally the cause of tubers, failing to grow 
after they are planted. We cheerfully replace tubers that do 
not grow, due to natural causes. 
PREPARATION—The soil should be thoroughly spaded and 
well pulverized before planting and if poor, some well-rotted 
barn yard manure or common fertilizer should be well worked 
in. Dahlias do not need very rich soil, therefore, if fertilizer 
is added, care must be taken not to overdo, as very rich 
soil will produce tubers of poor keeping qualities that are like¬ 
ly to rot in storage during the winter. 
TIME OF PLANTING—Dahlias should not be planted be¬ 
fore the ground becomes well warmed by the sun in the Spring. 
