House & Garden 
From Backyard Gardener 
Dahlia King in 25 Years 
The Romance of a Modern Business which, from a hobby, 
developed into one of the largest enterprises of its kind — 
B ig oaks from little acorns 
grow — and the little acorn, 
in this case, proved to be a 
hobby. That hobby was a flower 
— The Dahlia — which I found to 
be fraught with possibilities, as 
soon as I learned to look upon it 
as something other than an an old- 
fashioned “posey”. For years I 
grew Dahlias for my own plea¬ 
sure. Then I made my pleasure 
my business. 
Started with 60 Bulbs of 60 
Kinds and — no capital 
This was 25 years ago. I was in another 
line of business then, growing Dahlias as 
a side line. Since my Dahlias always did 
so much better than my neighbors’, they 
soon applied to me for surplus bulbs. 
Thus the business started. Encouraged by 
this initial success, I added 20 more dif¬ 
ferent and new kinds to my collection. The 
next year my sales amounted to $72.00— 
not much, but enough to encourage me to 
go on. 
Proud of my first Four-page 
catalog 
Because I thought that other Dahlia lov¬ 
ers, outside of East Bridgewater, would 
like to know about my favorites, I issued 
my first catalog in 1895. It was a very 
modest affair, but it did the business. Part 
of the $198.00 worth of Dahlia Bulbs dis¬ 
posed of that year were sold through the 
catalog. Because the year before, I had 
won several prizes at our local fair, I de¬ 
cided to stake my Dahlias against the best 
in the countr}'. The result was that I 
Won the First Prize in Boston 
at the big show in Horticultural Hall. 
Since then, my growing exhibits at all the 
leading World’s Fairs and E.xposi- 
tions have always won honors of the 
highest degree. 
Two Big Fires Wiped out 
Everything 
When I look back upon the year 
1901, I don’t know whether to think 
of it as a disaster or a “blessing in 
disguise.” It surely robbed me of all 
I had, but also established me on a 
broader, bigger basis. First, my ware¬ 
house burned. Later, another fire in 
the shipping-room caused me a loss of 
about $6,000 worth of bulbs, but I 
had an inexhaustible stock of con¬ 
fidence and a good deal of experience. 
Combined with the principle of square 
dealings, these factors are responsi¬ 
ble for the fact that I am 
Doing business 
now in the 
largest plant 
the world 
of its kind 
Five years ago I constructed a storage 
warehouse with shipping facilities unlike 
any other in my line of business. The 
building has a cellar with 11,700 cubic 
feet of storage space, besides 4,680 square* 
feet of floor space. Everything is in its 
place, and there is a place for everything. 
Carefully arranged bins hold the properly 
labelled roots of the hundreds of varieties 
which I now grow every year. From the 
middle of November, when we finish dig¬ 
ging the bulbs, until end of shipping sea¬ 
son, the following spring, this warehouse 
is the biggest beehive you ever saw. 
Yearly output of 38 acre 
Dahlia factory now Four 
Million Dahlia Clumps 
Please don’t think I have lost my senti¬ 
ment about my flowers when I call my 
farms a factory! To me. Dahlias are still 
and always will be, objects of cheer and 
love. But when you produce them by the 
millions, in scattered about lots on a 107- 
acre farm, it becomes necessary to employ 
methods of production not unlike those in 
big factories. 
Happy and Busy the 
Year Around 
W’ho wouldn’t be, with hundreds of 
different “pets” in as many varieties, in 
many different classes? It makes me 
happy to think that the Dahlia has finally 
come into its own. It makes me happy to 
know' that, among my own, are some of 
the finest the world has ever seen. And, 
it keeps me busy to maintain the high 
standard of perfection to which I have 
raised hundreds of popular kinds, not 
counting the everlasting work it takes to 
watch my many new hybrids. 
Visit my Gardens during 
August and September 
You’ll see a sight never to be forgotten. 
It’ll cause you to look upon Dahlias with 
different eyes ever after. My time is yours 
on visitors’ day, and we can’t see all the 
flowers on one visit either. So 
Let Catalog Visit You Now 
It will afford you a chance to get posted 
on Dahlias, before planting time knocks 
at the door. You can’t afford to do with¬ 
out some of my favorites in your 1919 gar- 
Nflen. The joy they’ll bring will repay 
manyfold their small cost and little labor 
of growing. 
J. K. Alexander, “The Dahlia King” 
425-435 Central Street East Bridgewater, Mass. 
