General Trade Edition 
Dic =DUNG 


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. 16 
WAYLAND, MICHIGAN, U. S. A., SEASON OF 1948 
NO. I 

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 June 19th and 20th in the 
Sherman Hotel, Chicago, ill., as fol- 
lows: 
MR. PRESIDENT: 
FELLOW MEMBERS: 
Once again the condition of my 
health makes it necessary for me to 
call upon our good friend and co-chair- 
man of the Dahlia Committee, Mr. 
Frank Kindig, to present our report 
on the dahlia situation and outlook 
for the coming season. 
First, as to acreage for this sea- 
son. While in the classified columns of 
the Florists’ Review dahlias have 
appeared in quite plentiful supply all 
during the month of May and even in 
the first issue of June, the fact that 
none of the larger growers seems to 
have made any reductions in prices 
even this late in the season, leads us 
to believe that there is no alarming 
surplus in stock among any of the 
growers and we should, therefore, look 
for no material increase in acreage 
this year over last. One item of im- 
portance should be noted, however, 
and that is, that many small growers 
throughout the country attracted by 
the high prices and apparent big de- 
mand for dahlias during the last few 
years have built up stock of several 
thousand roots and quite a number of 
these people will undoubtedly begin 
marketing their stock this coming 
year. Most of them have bought their 
original stock at the high prices which 
have prevailed since the war started 
and will not, therefore, be likely to 
attempt marketing their crop through 
the wholesale channels. Instead many 
of them will probably venture into the 
retail mail order field starting with a 
small circular and classified ads in 
such media as the Flower Grower, etc. 
They will not make any material 
change in the picture this year because 
not having attempted many previous 
sales they will not have been able to 
mark off their planting stock costs and 
will probably, therefore, make no con- 
siderable cuts in their retail prices. 
They will, however, take some of the 
retail business which may be refiected 
very slightly in your own retail vol- 
ume. I do not think this item need 
concern any established retail dealer 
this year but it is something not to be 
overlooked. 
Second, as to prices for this year. 
As we predicted last year and as 
pointed out in the first part of this 
report wholesale prices seem to be 
holding up to the high level which has 
prevailed during the past two or three 
years, and as supply must regulate the 
prices in the future if there is no great 
increase in acreage I do not think we 
need look for much of a drop in prices 
unless the normal demand drops off 
more than I think it will. 
Two other points I think might be 
brought out with good grace this year. 
First, on estimating your require- 
ments. If you place your order this 
fall as most of the mail order men 
have to do you must make an estimate 
of your requirements which will pro- 
tect you fully and yet, you do not 
want to overbuy. Our experience of 
many year's has shown that we should 
be able to count on a sale of 40 to 50 
roots per thousand catalog pages. 
Our customers normally issue about 
twelve million catalogs with probably 
fifteen million pages or near pages 
devoted to dahlias. On the basis above 
stated this would require about 
600,000 to 750,000 roots. Of course, 
where pages are in color more roots 
will be sold per thousand pages than 
where. dahlias are presented in 
straight black and white. These fig- 
ures will, I think, be safe for you to 
base your estimates on and will give 
you good protection for your season’s 
requirements. 
The second point is establishing 
your price. Before the war we used 
to figure 34c as about the maximum 
permissible root cost for $1.00 retail 
unit. During the last few years sales 
have been much easier and a root cost 
of 42c to 45e for $1.00 retail unit has 
been found thoroughly practicable. 
This year I should try to hold my root 
cost per $1.00 retail unit down to 40c¢ 
or 60c for a $1.50 unit, etc. This 
would permit as many as five 8c vari- 
eties, four 10c varieties and three 12c 
varieties, etc., per $1.00 unit. With 
stronger presentation and _ better 
varieties the price can be boosted even 
if economic conditions should reach 
a point as low as they were in the 
early 30s. Customers would regard as 
very, very cheap a collection of three 
such varieties as Mrs. Geo. Le Boutil- 
lier, Kemp’s White Wonder, The Com- 
modore, California Idol, Hunt’s Velvet 
Wonder, Marie, City of Cleveland, 
Blue River, etc., at $1.00 retail. In 
fact, such varieties should bring at 
least 50¢ each retail even in hard 
times because it has been many, many 
years since most customers have ex- 
pected or even hoped to buy really 
good large flowering dahlias for as 
little as a quarter each. In fact, more 
people that call personally at the 
dahlia gardens expect to pay from 
50c to $1.00 each for dahlias than less. 
Gentlemen, I thank you for your 
kind attention and also wish to express 
my gratitude to Mr. Kindig for his 
courtesy in helping me out with this 
report. 
EARL RYNO 
