In making* up the Dahlia list for 
your new catalog, w'e strongly urge 
you not to include too many varie¬ 
ties, and to stick to standard sorts 
as far as possible. Such varieties can 
be sold at prices wtihin reach of the 
general run of customers, and are 
usually available throughout the en¬ 
tire season. New varieties are almost 
always “tricky”, and will seldom 
make you any money. 
Our experience has shown that 
the best way to market dahlias is in 
the form of Dollar collections, each 
comprising four to six roots, and 
perhaps with a special gift tuber 
where two or more collections are 
ordered. Such collections should be 
made up with a well balanced assort¬ 
ment of colors, and should show 
quite a reduction from prices quoted 
on the individual roots. 
-- 0 - 
We still believe a mid-season 
broadside is one of the most profit¬ 
able pieces of advertising you can 
send out. One of our customers sold 
nearly two thousand collections of 
dahlias from 100,000 of such broad¬ 
sides sent out last spring—approxi¬ 
mately ninety roots per thousand. 
•- 0 - 
iMr. Downs, the originator of that 
wonderful dahlia JANE COWL, 
sends out a very interesting pamph¬ 
let “IIow to Grow Big Dahlias”. In 
looking over this pamphlet I was 
pleased to note the following state¬ 
ment: 
“It has been our experience that 
plants of most varieties will grow 
almost as nice clumps as roots pro¬ 
vided they are planted earlier. Why 
does it take plants longer to mature? 
Probably because the green plant 
has been taken from its mother root 
(as a cutting) at a very early stage 
and is fending for itself; while a hill 
growing from a root is supplied by 
that root with most of the food it 
requires. 
“There are times when this ten¬ 
dency of the root to feed the hill is 
a hindrance rather than an advan¬ 
tage—for instance, when the root is 
a very big one. In this case the root 
is able to feed the hill until it is a 
foot or two high. By that tima the 
root that was planted has itself 
thrown out feed roots and is draw¬ 
ing nutrition from the soil. It goes 
right on feeding the hill through its 
own root system. The hill has no need 
to throw out roots of its own, and 
as a result, there will be found no 
clump of new roots when the hill is 
dug. Only the old tuber remains—a 
little larger than when planted—with 
a few feed roots. Often this old root, 
or mother tuber, shows an eye and 
could be planted again the next 
season if necessary. If this is done, 
however, it should be cut in half to 
discourage its ambition to do all the 
work itself. That will force it to 
throw out roots near the stem end 
and result in a much better clump 
the next season. Cutting the ends off 
roots that are too big does not harm 
them if the wound is dusted in sul¬ 
phur. Damage will rarely result even 
without sulphur if the root is plant¬ 
ed at once after being cut. 
“So, in spite of the fact that a 
great many people prefer and ask 
for large roots, the ones not so 
large are better—and a lot more 
likely to give a good crop increase.” 
Our experience has been identical 
with that of Mr. Downs and we be¬ 
lieve actual test will convince any 
one that a small or medium size root 
will produce a better plant and a 
better clump of roots than can 
possibly be grown from a root weigh¬ 
ing half a pound or more. 
DAHLIAS IN THE 1938 CATALOGS 
Dealer 
Alneer Bros. 
Benton Co. Nurs. 
Buist 
Burgess 
Condon 
Dreer 
Emlong 
Field 
Inter-State Nurseries 
R. M. Kellogg Co. 
Magnolia 
Maule 
Earl May 
Neosho Nurs. 
Northwest Nurs. 
Olds 
Pike 
Russell-Heckle 
Salzer 
Shumway 
Sonderegger 
South Mich. Nurs. 
State Nurs. & Seed 
Tait 
Templin-Bradley 
Tucker 
Vaughan 
Will 
* In this column we 
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Color 
Illust. 
4 
5 
11 
B. & W. 
Ulus. 
1 
2 
2 
1 
3 
6 
1 
4 
1 
1 
1 
1 
2 
'l 
1 
7 
2 
3 
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2 
No. Varieties 
Listed * 
12 
9 
46 
90 
31 
72 
10 
23 
17 
11 
11 
34 
16 
11 
19 
26 
26 
26 
122 
32 
36 
4 
19 
24 
12 
16 
155 
6 
or unnamed dahlias offered 
