- General Trade Edition 
Dic =DuUNG 

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 II, Chapter XII. 
Sales and Service Bulletin 


VOL. 15 
WAYLAND, MICHIGAN, U. S. A., SEASON OF 1947 



THE DAHLIA SITUATION THIS YEAR 
It has been our custom to give each 
year our opinion as to the dahlia out- 
look for the current season. This year 
we are taking the liberty to reproduce 
the report made by the writer as 
Chairman of the Dahlia Committee of 
the National Mail Order Nursery- 
men’s Association at their Convention 
held on July 28th and 29th in the 
Stevens Hotel, Chicago, IIll., as fol- 
lows: 
MR. PRESIDENT: 
FELLOW MEMBERS: 
I am sorry that the condition of my 
health makes it impossible for me to 
give you my report on the dahlia sit- 
uation this year in person; nor was it 
possible for me to make personal con- 
tact with other dahlia growers to 
learn their opinions on the outlook 
this year. 
Naturally, however, we keep a con- 
stant watch on growing and market- 
ing conditions and it is on our ob- 
servations on these points that we are 
basing our own operational plans for 
the coming season, and it is on ihese 
plans that I shall base my remarks. 
First, as to acreage, I think there 
will be an even smaller acreage in 
dahlias this year than last for three 
reasons; First, dahlias were very short 
crop last year and nearly all the 
larger growers were sold so short that 
it required not only all their saleable 
stock but in many cases a portion of 
the stock usually held for planting to 
fill their contracts; Secondly, because 
of the scarcity of help some of the 
larger growers are devoting part of 
their attention to such items as hardy 
mums and similar plants which will 
cut down on their labor requirements 
at the usual dahlia harvest time; and, 
Thirdly, because of the relatively high 
price of glads several of the larger 
growers whom I know are using a 
larger part of their acreage in glads 
as both cut flower and bulb crops. 
We figured our crop was at least 
25% short last year and while we have 
increased our own acreage to a total 
of about seventy acres this year or 
approximately a million plants, we 
think that taking the country as a 
whole the total acreage in dahlias this 
season will be at least 20% less than 
last and even assuming good growing 
conditions I think the total crop will 
fall short of last year. 
As to prices, there are two factors 
that enter into the prices of dahlia 
roots. The first of these is Scarcity. 
This is reflected chiefly in the cut- 
flower varieties which are in demand 
in large quantities by the cut-flower 
growers. Such varieties as Jersey’s 
Beauty, Jean Kerr, Le Toreador and 
Francis Larocco are notable examples 
of this class. These varieties used to 
sell by the thousands at from 3c to 5e 
a piece. Scarcity boosted these prices 
last year up to 15c to 25c and the fact 
that these prices held throughout the 
season shows pretty clearly that 
available stocks were moving even at 
these higher prices. The second factor 
in price is Relative Merit. When Jer- 
sey’s Beauty will sell at 25c we can- 
not expect such varieties as Kathleen 
Norris, Victory and Premier’s Win- 
some to sell at a dime. When such 
varieties as Jean Kerr sell at 15c¢ we 
cannot expect Kemp’s White Wonder 
to sell at 10c. When Le Toreador and 
Francis Larocco will sell at 20c cer- 
tainly Mrs. Boutillier, California Idol 
and such varieties of greater merit 
cannot be bought for half that price. 
I know it is true that the giant ex- 
hibition varieties do not ordinarily 
sell in such quantities as the standard 
varieties used chiefly for commercial 
cutting purposes; but nevertheless, 
growers are bound not only to make 
their plantings on the basis of price 
but also to make their price on the 
basis of planting. We grow not only 
the standard varieties but also the 
large garden and exhibition varieties 
on a scale of thousands of each va- 
riety and while we are naturally 
maintaining the size of our plantings 
of the larger varieties because of the 
fact that we cater especially to the 
mail order catalog trade, yet we be- 
lieve that such varieties will reflect 
the greatest shortage this year, espe- 
cially among the eastern growers; 
hence we do not look for any cut in 
prices of standard varieties this sea- 
son and should not be surprised to see 
the larger varieties listed at even 
greater prices before the end of next 
season. 
As to our prices, we have always 
maintained a rather independent atti- 
tude, selling our crop on a cost of 
production basis regardless of ruling 
prices among other growers. How- 
ever, I do not feel that it would be 
fair to make any mention of prices 
at this particular time which would 
make it seem that we were using our 
report for purposes of exploitation of 
our own stock. I have tried to give 
you the facts regarding the dahlia 
outlook as they appear to us and as I 
think they should be looked at by you 
in your contracting to cover your next 
season’s requirements. We sent back 
more than $40,000 worth of-late orders 
last year and I think the wise buyer 
will cover himself as soon as possible 
rather than wait for prices to drop 
as the season advances. 
While this is not strictly within the 
range of our report there are a couple 
of other items which I believe will not 
be out of place at this time. The first 
of these is the matter of losses from 
freezing in transit, especially in con- 
nection with shipments made during 
the early winter months. We, our- 
selves, insist on shipping dahlias ex- 
clusively by express, thus insuring 
against loss from freezing in transit. 
Last year we had many valuable ship- 
ments lost and because of short stock 
it was impossible to duplicate these 
shipments even though Express Com- 
pany was responsible for the loss. To 
avoid such losses we suggest that all 
shipments be followed with an alert 
from agent at shipping point and just 
as soon as goods are received pack- 
ages should be opened and some of 
the bulbs examined carefully to de- 
(Continued on page 2, col. 2) 
