ORDER EARLY AND YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED 
As the plants grow, gradually HI 1 the holes until they are level with the 
surrounding ground, never hill up around the plants. When they show three sets 
of leaves, pinch off above the top set of leaves, this will make the plant grow, 
stockier and branch out better. By July 1st they should be growing into good, 
healthy plants and start making good growth. Some plants should start to show 
their blooms by about August 1st, and then the thrills will begin, and you will 
be thrilled daily from about this time on, as the buds begin to get larger and 
larger, and at last open and unfold slowly, one petal after another. The more it 
unfolds the more beautiful it looks, and right next to it is another plant with 
magnificent leathery foliage, and with a large bud ready to unfold its treasures. 
At the same time you are wondering will it be a white, a red, a gold, a lavender, 
a pink, or a combination of all these colors, with the result that every few 
hours you will be running out into your seedling patch to see if this marvelous 
dahlia has exposed any more of its hidden beauty, so that you can call or tele¬ 
phone to some of your friends to come to see it, as well as some of the others 
that by this time are starting to unfold their petals, and so it is until the end of 
the season, nothing but one thrill after another. 
For your own protection and not to get the clumps mixed during the winter, 
it is a good idea to number the plants one, two, three, etc., in a memorandum 
book, such as the first seedling to open up, number it number one, and tag it 
with a number one on with a tag, written in indelible ink, or some other good 
substitute so that the number will not rub off easily, and on page one of the 
memo book, make note as follows: Seedling number one. Informal decorative 
about 7 inches in diameter, flower facing sideways on plant about 5 feet in 
height. Color a light lavender with a finely penciled stripe near the edge of 
petals and shading to a silvery lavender at the outer edge . Petals are about 3 
inches long and have a slight wave and twist near the ends. Stems are about 
26 inches long and 8 inches between the flower and the first set of leaves on the 
stem, which is stiff, wiry and strong, or stout, thick or as the case may be. Foliage 
large, small, leathery bush, an open grower, robust grower, or compact, so that 
the following spring you will have a fair idea as to just what you can expect 
this clump to do and can plant it accordingly with notes as to the habit of blooms, 
if they are of good substance, early and free flowering, there is no harm in mak¬ 
ing notes to suit yourself and understanding, the more the better, and the more 
intei est in it. A few of the early blooms wull be of the single variety, or show 
an open center, as these varieties are the first to bloom, it is the later blooms that 
will give you the thrills. 
The single or open centered varieties should be pulled out of the ground, 
as well as any that have w 7 eak stems, as they are useless and unworthy of given 
them ground space. In weeding them out, the other plants get more room and 
will grow better. 
It is a good policy also for your benefit to mark down in book the exact 
date that each plant that you have numbered came into bloom, so that the fol¬ 
lowing year you will plant the late blooming varieties first and the early 
blooming varieties later, so that they will all be in bloom about the same time. ' 
Do not throw away any clumps that have not bloomed, as these may be 
your best plants the following year, because it is the late blooming varieties that 
have the best possibilities of producing the outstanding varieties. 
In colder climates and where the growing season is not so long, is to start 
rage Fifty-nine 
