6 
I 
The Dahlia Farm 1936 Wholesale Price List 
EAST MORICHES, LONG ISLAND, N. Y. 
WORTH WHILE DAHLIAS from the florist’s point of 
view are few in number, and too often a good business in 
both flowers and roots is ruined by a poor selection of 
varieties for cataloging and growing. Too many business 
men make the mistake of stocking up with low priced 
goods instead of cheap goods. No florist can build a 
business through competition with chain stores, Five & 
Dimes or cut rate department stores. The old, low dis¬ 
carded varieties that are grown for this type of trade, 
without regard to beauty of plant or flower, with nothing 
in mind but cheap tuber production, are the chief causes of 
failures with the dahlia. The dahlia has been greatly 
improved during the past decade, adding flower after 
flower of the type and color of the older varieties with 
better stem, better keeping qualities, healthier and huskier 
growth, and vastly greater values to both florist and gar¬ 
dener. In fact, there is no excuse for growing such white 
dahlias as Delighted, Rhein Konig, Purity, Brides Bouquet, 
Lawine, Queen Wilhelmina, Frances White, such reds as 
Dr. Kirkland, D. M. Moore, Porthos, Helen Hollis, J. H. 
Jackson, Emperor, Pride of California, Rene Cayaux or 
old pinks like Queen Mary, George Walters, Bianca, Bonnie 
Brae and a host of others that you can hunt in vain for 
through a thousand catalogues issued by the leading dahlia 
growers of the world. Today even the ghosts of these 
buried failures do not haunt the European catalogues that 
gave most of them birth. 
The gorgeous dahlias that blotted the old varieties from 
memory can be grown as cheaply, and are a far better 
investment. The old ones that survive have nothing but 
the quality of root production to recommend them. Though 
they yield nothing of value above the ground they pro¬ 
duce beneath the ground such a quantity of roots that one 
can afford to sell them at lc. or 2c. each, and make a profit, 
as long as new buyers can be found. This sort of business 
is all right for chain stores, etc., but the florist who supplies 
a community and depends on satisfied customers and ser¬ 
vice cannot afford business of this kind. He cannot afford 
to sell roots that grow into a blanket for his business. The 
moment the new found customer compares the flowers 
produced from such roots with the flowers in his neigh¬ 
bor’s garden, the florist has lost a customer. 
In buying for resale the florist should not rush into 
bankruptcy at the behest of loud ballyhoo. Let the ‘fan’ 
buy and prove the new varieties. If they are good, it is 
impossible to escape hearing of it. Summer gardens, fall 
exhibitions and Horticultural Magazines will spread the 
news. When the price, in the natural decline occasioned 
by the law of supply and demand, goes down to where 
profitable sales can be made, then GOOD business can 
begin. Go out and watch the ‘touted’ new ones growing, 
and compare them with the few relics of a dead and gone 
dahlia past, if you can find them growing in the garden 
of one who buys at the lowest price rather than at the 
cheapest price. 
If the florist or gardener seeking information about 
roses, chrysanthemums or peonies delved into any cata¬ 
logue featuring these flowers, he would learn at once which 
are the standard varieties, and learn quickly those varie¬ 
ties best suited for his purpose, but should he desire to 
know the best dahlias for his growing and all-around use. 
he might go through a hundred catalogues, all the trade 
papers, and gvery book written on the dahlia without 
acquiring anything but a first class headache. 
One thing certain is that the decorative type of dahlia 
is the type most in demand. The Show or Ball dahlia, once 
the leader in the cut flower market, has been narrowed 
down by a lessened demand to where but a few names sur¬ 
vive, and the true cactus, of which over 1,000 names were 
listed in 1918, has followed the Ball. About a dozen of the 
English introductions, and a few European still creep into 
the catalogues, augmented each season by one or two 
American novelties, but very few of them have the sta¬ 
mina to find favor with the wholesale buyers. Even the 
modern semi-cactus seldom adds a name to the cut- 
flower group. As for the peony type, a flower popular so 
short a time ago, it is not listed by most of the dahlia 
growers, and it is a long time since the flowers have been 
in demand on 28th Street. 
Remembering the loud acclaim for “world beaters” at 
every show since the A. D. S. was born, and keeping in 
intimate touch with the New York market since the 
Dahlia began its climb to the lead over all other flowers 
during the autumn months, I still feel rather reticent about 
going on record when asked for “the Best Ten” among 
dahlias. 
So many stars of the first magnitude (if you believe the 
ballyhoo) have joined the barnumania kept alive by the 
constant stream of seedlings advertised and exhibited, that 
even to list them all would fill a fair sized lexicon. They 
came, they reigned awhile, then panhandled around the 
outer edges of their kingdom for a time, and found a 
Potter’s Field. SIC transit gloria mundi. 
If I were limited to three varieties only for my garden, 
I would choose Jersey’s Beauty, Jane Cowl and Fort Mon¬ 
mouth. If I were limited to one variety only I would choose 
Jersey’s Triumph, though I know Jane Cowl is the most 
beautiful garden dahlia ever introduced. But I would have 
the Triumph because it is a glorified Beauty, the soul of 
autumn loveliness. Because it is the most satisfying of 
plants to the eye, one of the easiest to grow, and a better 
root maker and keeper than Jersey’s Beauty. Because its 
golden bronze sheen will suit any situation and blend in 
with any color scheme. Because it is a higher scoring 
dahlia than Jersey’s Beauty, though any shade of pink 
sells better, all the season through, than any other color, 
and most florists would put Beauty first. I am sure Jersey’s 
Beauty still walks away with the lion’s share of prizes at 
the Country’s Shows, and concede it may be true when 
it is said more cut blooms of Jersey’s Beauty are sold than 
of all other dahlias combined. 
I try out most varieties of dahlias introduced each year, 
buy all the new ones at $10.00 or $15.00 or even at the $25.00 
some gold-diggers ask, and list every one that proves 
WORTH-WHILE, even though it may lack some of the 
attributes of a great dahlia, but I seldom find one among 
the year’s best that I can add to my best TEN or with 
which I can replace one of them. We lack a white, a red 
and a yellow to line up with Jane Cowl or Jersey’s Beauty. 
Margaret Broomall and White Wonder are marvels in the 
garden, but worth less than a tinker’s dam in the cut 
flower market. Murphy’s Masterpiece and America's 
Sweetheart can be forced—at $10.00 per flower, more or less 
—with dynamic feeding and watering and the use of 
crutches and sunshades to any size desired, and so clean 
up the class at any show, but you couldn’t pack and ship 
a dozen blooms of either to market and be sure of a dime 
returning. 
MINIATURES AND POMPONS. Without question, the 
most useful type of dahlia for the florist is the small dahlia. 
Blooming riotously at a time when all perennials and most 
annuals are past their best, yielding a bigger harvest for 
the amount of space used than anything else that grows, 
during the barren months the small dahlia is a Godsend 
and a life saver to the florist both in town and country. 
The varieties now in commerce run the range of every 
color and shade, and their small size and great beauty fit 
them for any purpose the florist desires. 
At the present time there are 350 varieties being grown 
at THE DAHLIA FARM, and every variety introduced 
is bought and tried out here, and it can be said without 
fear of contradiction that the collection here cannot be 
equalled by any other grower in the world. 
Just as size is the predominating demand of judges for 
the decorative type in the showroom, so the demand for 
smallness in Pompons has been the requisite for winning 
with this type on the bench, and this peculiar kink in the 
judges’ viewpoint has made the one inch flower the most 
desirable for growing and reselling the ‘fan’. But for cut 
flower purposes most of the exhibition winners are value¬ 
less. If you grow flowers for sale you will need the varieties 
running to two inches in size, with stem well branched with 
foliage. The small flower with long clean stem is a “wash¬ 
out”, as it bunches poorly, and looks too measly when 
bunched to appeal to either florist or customer. Most of 
the older English varieties are still unbeatable, though 
many exquisite flowers have been introduced in the past 
few years. NERISSA, catalogued by Turner in 1895, has 
never yet been approached for perfection, and, unfortun¬ 
ately, has been impersonated by nearly every other so- 
called pink in cultivation. More than ten varieties I grow 
under their right names were sent me instead of Nerissa 
last season. 
If you wish to have flowers that can be depended on, 
grow a few pompons and find yourself equipped for any 
emergency, and augment your income by taking orders for 
roots the following spring. There is no need to fear the 
buyers’ competition, as a delight in the garden generally 
makes a steady flower buyer. 
