IONIA, MICHIGAN 
FERTILIZERS— 
In the fall if possible cover your garden with 
some barnyard manure or sow rye and then in 
the spring after it becomes six or twelve inches 
high plow it under. That provides humus of 
the best kind. Before planting scatter about 
five pounds of steamed bone meal and five 
pounds of wood ashes over the ground that 
will be occupied by about 40 dahlia plants. 
About the first of August scatter a good big 
handful of steamed bone meal and two of pul¬ 
verized sheep manure around each plant, keep¬ 
ing about six inches from the stalk of the 
plant. August 15th repeat the treatment. 
WATERING— 
Dahlias like plenty of water and should be 
soaked every ten days, and oftener while in 
bloom. Always cultivate well after watering 
as soon as the ground is dry enough to work 
in order to loosen up the crust that has formed. 
You can easily overwater when plants are 
young, but you cannot over-cultivate them. 
It is better not to water than to allow a crust 
to form after watering. As buds form on the 
plants, they should be removed as soon as they 
appear, up to August 1. The idea is to grow 
your plant first, and then let it bloom. 
PINCHING BACK, OR TOPPING OFF 
PLANT— 
When the plant shows three or four sets of 
leaves, we advise pinching the top off, just 
above the top pair of leaves; this will hold the 
plant back a week or two, but it will make the 
plant grow more robust and vigorous, and give 
many more, heavier and better branches than 
would have been had, had the plant been al¬ 
lowed to grow naturally. While this is not 
necessary on low growing plants, we urgently 
advise it on all tall growing plants. 
DISBUDDING FOR LARGE OR 
EXHIBITION FLOWERS— 
There is no trick or secret in disbudding to 
get the large blooms one sees at the shows, 
or in the gardens of the professional grower. 
It is all so very simple if directions will be fol¬ 
lowed. When the buds begin to appear at the 
tip of the branch, they usually appear in clus¬ 
ters of three and when these are about the 
size of a pea, we take out the two side ones 
and leave the center bud to grow alone. If by 
chance one of the side buds is larger, or looks 
healthier than the center one, then take out 
the center bud and the weakest or smallest of 
the side buds. With this done we then stay 
on this branch and go down to the last set of 
leaves on this same branch, and take out the 
two small branches, or laterals as they are 
called. These, as a rule, are small, as they 
are just beginning to sprout out from the 
node, or joint, where the leaf is growing from. 
We do this right down on all of the leaves 
on this one branch until we get down to the 
last set of leaves; these we allow to grow. This 
not only gives a large flower, but also a longer 
and stronger stem. Continue this application 
on all side stems of the plant. 
SPRAYING— 
During the hot days of summer, insects or 
pests such as Aphids, Thrips, Leaf Hoppers, 
Green Flies, Cucumber Beetles, etc., are more 
or less prevalent and dahlia plants are gen¬ 
erally attacked by them. If any of these pests 
should be noticed on or around the plants they 
