Goreword 
I want to express my appreciation for the confidence our customers have shown in us. Your 
fine orders made the 1947-'48 season by far our best to date. Also, I wish to greet the many 
new customers who will purchase bulbs from us for the first time this year. 
The many fine cards and letters telling us of the nice stock we sent out and of the service 
we rendered are deeply appreciated. This correspondence is carefully filed; it reminds us to be 
a little more helpful and to be of more service than is actually required. 
This past summer we exhibited at three of the Illinois shows—Edwardsville, Champaign, and 
Le Roy. I wish to express my sincere thanks to the members of the show committees and all 
others who helped in staging these shows, for the privilege of allowing us to exhibit our 
flowers. We were disappointed in not being able to take some spikes to our Indiana show; a 
very early season prevented this. In addition to the Illinois shows, we attended the Bingham- 
ton, Boston, Indiana, and Fort William, Ontario exhibitions. This extended trip of over 7,000 
miles was made still more enjoyable by the many chats we had with growers all the way 
from the East coast to Nebraska and into Canada. 
Our customers know what quality of bulbs and bulblets they will receive. I believe that the 
best medium of advertising is to supply the finest stock that can be grown. We have built up 
a reputation for filling orders generously and also including samples of new varieties for trial. 
A large percentage of our bulb crop is first year bulbs from bulblets; the remainder is grown 
from 5s and 6s. These bulbs are young and very high crowned; it is the finest stcck we have 
ever grown. The entire planting remained green and healthy right up to digging time. These 
bulbs, grown on a fine piece of land never before used for growing bulbs, have the ability to 
produce high quality blooms. Our stock is stored in galvanized screen bottom trays with the 
bulbs not over 3% inches deep in the trays. These trays are then placed in racks in such a 
manner as to allow plenty of air circulation around each and every tray. All of our stock is 
dug, cleaned, and graded by hand and is never mutilated in any way. I personally inspect 
each and every order before it is packed for shipment. Practically all of the retail orders and 
many of the wholesale ones are filled personally. Many times I have been asked how we get 
such large bulbs from bulblets in one year. It probably is due to our long growing season 
plus irrigation and intensive cultivation. Of course dusting is also important in keeping the 
young plants free of insects and in a healthy growing condition. We use 5% DDT for thrip 
control plus a small percentage of copper dust to prevent fungus diseases. 
In our listings we have tried to describe the variety’s defects as well as its good qualities. As 
every variety listed was grown here, the descriptions were prepared from appraisals in our 
fields. The plan of growing a variety before approving it for listing is being continued. A 
variety will perform differently according to the soil, climate, and weather conditions to which it 
is exposed. Basing our judgment on performance here, we sincerely believe that each variety 
offered in this catalogue is definitely worthwhile, either for exhibition or commercial purposes. 
We were privileged to test and evaluate quite a few seedlings. Three of those we rated as 
being worthy of introduction are offered in this catalogue. This rating was given on one 
year’s growing. 
Some varieties are grown in limited quantities and we urge you to order as early as possible. 
Last winter we were sold out of some kinds by the first of February and by the 15th of 
February seventy-five percent of orders received had to be returned as we didn’t have the 
stock to fill them. To those whose orders were returned, I sincerely regret the inconvenience 
caused and trust that we will again be favored with an order this year. 
It is a pleasure to submit to you our 1949 list and I sincerely wish each and everyone a suc- 
cessful growing season for 1949, 
GEORGE W. LASCH 
