GENERAL TRASE EDITION 
There is no soil, however barren and unproductive, that cannot, by well digging and dunging, be made 
fertile and prolific.—Adapted from Cervantes’ DON QUIXOTE, Part 11, Chapter XU. 
Sales and Service Bulletin 
VOL. 9 WAYLAND, MICHIGAN, U. S= A., SEASON OF 1940 No. 1 
FIELD NOTES 
Of the approximately 700 different 
varieties of Dahlias that we are 
growing we are listing this year 
about 170 varieties which are avail¬ 
able in quantities sufficient to make 
them of interest to the wholesale 
trade. All of these varieties are 
standaid sorts which have been 
thoroughly tested on both heavy and 
light soil and every one of them can 
be highly recommended to any grow¬ 
er with the assurance that it will 
give complete satisfaction in every 
way. 
All of these Dahlias are sold 
through the seed and nursery trade 
to the amateur grower who knows 
practically nothing about Dahlia cul¬ 
ture and cannot, therefore, be ex¬ 
pected to get any results from var¬ 
ieties which are temperamental and 
have to be babied or fussed with to 
produce good plants with plenty of 
blooms. We keep this fact in mind 
at all times and urge our customeis 
not to overlook the same fact when 
they make up their own lists. 
Such varieties as Jersey’s Beauty, 
Jane Cowl, Mrs. I. de Ver Warner, 
Pride of California, Sagamore, Jer¬ 
sey’s Beacon, Margaret Woodrow 
Wilson, Pride of Stratford, Bashful 
Giant, Laura Morris, Jean Kerr, etc., 
etc., have been tried out in all parts 
of the country, and can always be 
depended upon to give satisfaction 
under almost any condition. In 
making up a collection of Dahlias, 
therefore, we believe it to be best 
policy to build the collection around 
The cut shown illustrates the four 
leading types of Dahlias. At the left 
side is Diana, a brilliant scarlet Art 
type, at the top is Tillamook, a light 
pink Ball type, at the right is 
Melody, a yellow Cactus type, and 
at the bottom is Purity, a pure white 
Decorative type. Dahlia. Wouldn’t an 
armful of these four varieties make 
a beautiful bouquet? You see what 
can be done with the standard var¬ 
ieties of Dahlias when carefully 
selected to give a well balanced range 
of types and colors. 
such sorts as these, and then if you 
want to pep up the collection with 
one or two of the newer ones, you 
can feel certain that the customer is 
going to get enough sure-shot var¬ 
ieties so he won’t raise a serious kick 
if one of the new ones fails to make 
good. If, on the other hand, you 
build your collection almost wholly 
of the new varieties, and the season 
is bad or for some other reason 
something goes wiong with them, 
your customer is bound to be dis¬ 
appointed and blame you for it. 
In addition to such varieties as 
the above, we are listing quite a large 
number of older varieties, many of 
which are seldom listed in the seed 
catalogs—such as Aida, Doazon, 
Darlene, Purity, Countess of Pem¬ 
broke, Queen Maiy, Yellow Colosse, 
Delice, D. M. Moore, Mina Burgle, 
Mrs. Carl Salbach, Venus, etc., etc. 
These varieties have stood the gaff 
for many years and we feel that 
they have been neglected by the 
seedsmen largely because of their 
desire to offer something new re- 
gaidless of whether it had known 
merit or not. We grow these var¬ 
ieties in large quantities, and one 
prominent grower in looking over 
our fields stated that most of them 
“if given new names, would actually 
win on the show table in competition 
with many of the newer ones.” They 
are the ' most desirable sorts fox- 
counter trade because of their de- 
(Continued on Page Three) 
