big =DuNG 
PUBLISHED BY 
WAYLAND DAHLIA GARDENS 
E. R. RYNO, PROP. 
WAYLAND, MICHIGAN 

SEASON OF 1945 
As most of our customers know, we 
have for years made a specialty of 
supplying the seed and nursery trade 
with dahlia roots to be sold through 
their catalogs. These catalogs are us- 
ually prepared early in the fall to be 
mailed along about the first of the 
year, As most of these people placed 
ieir contraets for the coming sea- 
son’s requirements in the fall-it-has 
been our custom to send out our price 
list early in September and usually a 
iarge part of our crop was placed be- 
fore we started digging October Ist. 
This year, however, conditions are 
entirely different from those of 
former years in that many of our 
larger customers, realizing the ex- 
treme shortage of stock, have covered 
their requirements before our going 
to press. As a result our list shows 
many varieties completely sold out 
and many others almost all spoken 
for. 
- We could undoubtedly have sold our 
entire crop without publishing our 
list this year but we decided to issue 
the list at least as a matter of record 
and comparison for use in coming 
years when stock may be more plenti- 
ful and buyers less eager to protect 
themselves so early in the season. 
We have always based our prices 
on actual cost of production regard- 
less of what others might charge and 
we have maintained such _ prices 
throughout the season regardless 
of changing market conditions. Those 
who have always given their con- 
tracts early have never had occa- 
sion to regret such action because they 
have always found that prices instead 
of dropping later in the season are 
quite certain to advance as stocks are 
cleaned up. 
This will be the only price list we 
shall issue this year and we urge 
those customers who usually order 
later to get their reservations in at 
once while stock is still available. If 
you do not find just what you want 
in our list we suggest that you select 
some other variety of similar type and 
color in same price range to complete 
your list this year. 
We have always put out our last 
sorting of planting stock in a single 
block which was offered to our cus- 
tomers as MIXED to enable them to 
make a really worth-while bargain 
offer along with their named varie- 
ties. 
This year labor conditions made it 
impossible for us to plant any mixed 
dahlias and we are, therefore, unable 
to offer any “MIXED” or “MIXED 
BY COLOR” and while these are not 
really “bargain” times those of our 
customers who wish to continue their 
offering of this item can make up 
their own mixture from named varie- 
ties in our lower priced groups. Sup- 
plies of even these varieties are very 
short but we believe we can take care 
of early orders in a fairly satisfactory 
manner. 
We don’t want any of our customers 
to feel that we are getting “snooty” 
or that we do not appreciate every 
order that comes our way; but we 
have actually had to turn down offers 
from several jobbers for our entire 
crop at a flat price higher than the 
prices we are actually oiuering in our 
list and while this would have meant 
a_ larger profit to-us We realize that 
the present conditions are only tem- 
porary and we have preferred to pass 
up this extra profit rather than sac- 
rifice our regular trade to which we 
have catered and have put our all 
into serving for so many years. 
We realize that even at best many 
of our old customers cannot be 
reached this year, especially those 
who have looked to us for their 
Packaged Dahlias put up especially 
for the retail trade. This trade was 
becoming an important feature of 
our business and one that we liked 
very much and it is through no fault 
of our own that we are unable to 
handle this trade this year. Boxes 
cannot be obtained and, therefore, 
packages cannot be made up regard- 
less of price. We want our customers 
to understand the conditions under 
which we are having to work and we 
also hope that they will share with us 
the hope of better conditions which 
will enable us to take care of their 
needs in our line after the war is won. 
Last year, because of our inability 
to get enough help at digging time to 
get our crop out of the ground and 
under cover before too heavy frosts 
had occurred, many roots were chilled 
to such an extent as to cause unusu- 
ally heavy losses in storage. As a 
result we were unable to complete 
many orders which could otherwise 
have been taken care of without dif- 
ficulty. This year we hope to start 
our digging a week or two earlier to 
avoid such conditions. If we have 
normal rains from now on this will be 
possible as dahlias usually make most 
of their root growth during the first 
two or three weeks of September. 
Our soil is a fertile sandy loam 
which normally gives us a fully ma- 
tured root early in the season and if 
we can get our crop in storage before 
the ground freezes we will have little 
loss from rot. 
At this writing (August 25th) nearly 
all varieties are looking very fine, and 
unless weather is too dry in Septem- 
ber, should give us a normal crop. 
We usually give a tabulation show- 
ing the space devoted to dahlias and 
number of varieties listed in the lead- 
ing mail order catalogs each year. 
We are omitting this tablulation this 
year, but in order that our records 
may be complete we would appreciaté 
it if you would send us a copy of your 
1945 catalog, or at least a _tear- 
sheet from same, showing your dahlia 
listings for this coming season. Thank 
you. 

The question of discounts is almost 
always brought up by the jobber when 
he wants to place his order. - As we 
have stated repeatedly our prices are 
based on the actual cost of produc- 
tion, and are absolutely net in all 
cases. So long as we have a market 
for more dahlias than we can produce, 
I see absolutely no reason for grant- 
ing a discount to one man because he 
places an order for 50,000 roots and 
happens to be a jobber while another 
customer who issues from a million to 
seven niillion eataloges and uses sev- 
eral times as many dahlias as the job- 
ber will willingly pay our regular 
price for his supply. 
We usually figure that concessions 
are made for services rendered. If the 
jobber’s services were necessary in 
disposing of our goods a _ discount 
might be feasible but in such case 
prices would have to be readjusted 
accordingly because the cost of pro- 
duction and distribution on which our 
selling price is based would, therefore, 
be larger. 
Another point about jobber’s trade. 
We regard such trade as merely 
transient, whereas most of our seed 
house customers are regular custom- 
ers who have been with us year after 
year for many years. The jobber’s 
trade comes to us only when supplies 
are scarce and he is not able to buy 
at cut rates from growers who are 
largely unknown. Where we have 
surpluses, as almost always happens 
with some one or another variety, 
we are always glad to find an outlet 
for such surpluses but never at re- 
duced prices because if a variety is 
long this year we can always plant 
the surplus ourselves another year 
when the same variety may prove to 
be generally in shorter supply than 
in the previous season. 


It is hopeful that the war in Europe 
will be practically over by the time 
this Bulletin reaches our customers. 
Such a condition will result in the 
loosening of the labor supply some- 
what unless Congress passes an Un- 
employment Compensation act which 
will insure workers more money than 
prevailing farm wages; in which case 
we cannot expect any farm labor from 
among the present factory workers 
who certainly would not give up $25 
to $35 per week for doing nothing in 
order to take a farm job which means 
hard work and little, if any, more 
money. : 
Each class has its own ideas regard- 
ing post-war plans but all of them 
seem to lose sight of the fact that 
WAGES are the vital question in the 
whole thing. If present wartime 
wages are to prevail, no matter what 
other features may be incorporated 
in the plans, SUCH PLANS ARE 
ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN TO FAIL. 
