General Trade Edition 
Dic&DUuUNG 
There is no soil, however barren and unproductive, 
that cannot, by well digging and dunging, be 
made fertile and prolifie—Adapted from re DON QUIXOTE, Part II, Chapter XII. 
sales and Service Bulletin 
VOL. 21 
WAYLAND, MICHIGAN U.S.A., SEASON OF 1954 
NO. 1 
DAHLIAS FOR FIFTY-FOUR 
We consider the Classified Columns 
of the FLORISTS’ REVIEW (Chi- 
cago) the most complete and reliable 
index to the plant and bulb industry 
in America. Nearly all the growers 
advertise in these columns and natu- 
rally we follow them very closely from 
the beginning to the end of the sea- 
son to form our estimates on the 
available stock throughout the sea- 
son. This past spring (1953) we be- 
lieve growers of dahlias were carry- 
ing their ads to a later period than 
has been the case in many years. The 
dahlia planting season usually starts 
about May 1st and the ads begin to 
drop out; but this year many of the 
growers were still running their ads 
in June from which fact we would in- 
fer that stocks in the grower’s hands 
were still quite complete and gave no 
indication of a complete sell-out as in 
former years. There seemed to be no 
drop in prices in these late ads so it 
is very likely there was no alarming 
surplus in the hands of any grower, 
yet the fact still remains that there 
were still bulbs available and the us- 
ual earlier sell-outs had not been ex- 
perienced. I do not attribute this fact 
to over production in 1952 but rather 
to two quite unusual conditions. The 
first of these was the unusually se- 
vere drought which prevailed in the 
southern states last year and resulted 
in a very noticeable drop in southern 
demand for dahlias, and the second 
is the fact that quite a large quantity 
of Holland dahlias were shipped into 
our country last year and took the 
place of our American bulbs in the 
hands of many of our jobbers. I do 
not think either of these conditions 
will be permanent factors in our par- 
ticular line because it does not seem 
that the great South would not repeat 
its former bumper crop seasons, and 
certainly we need not worry about im- 
ported dahlias taking the place of 
American products because nearly 
every dahlia grower has been trying 
out these bulbs for years in his own 
fields and while they may be cheaper 
than the American bulbs, we have 
never yet had a satisfactory field 
performance from any imported dah- 
ha bulbs we have tried out. 
While, as we stated above, we be- 
lieve planting stocks were quite plen- 
tiful this year this very fact would 
normally insure against any increase 
in acres planted over last year be- 
cause very few growers would be 
likely to plant more than they had 
been able to sell the past year. 
Taken on the whole, therefore, we 
would estimate that the acres planted 
to dahlias in America this year will 
be perhaps slightly less, certainly no 
more, than last year; prices will re- 
main about the same as last year 
with the exception of some slight 
drops in the newer varieties of which 
planting stock is becoming more plen- 
tiful and, therefore, a little less costly. 
Standard varieties will remain about 
the same and I think sales in the 
North especially will be a little better 
than last year in view of the fact 
that dahlias bloomed so freely and 
did so well in nearly all sections of 
the north country last year. 
I think every economist will agree 
with me when IJ express as my sin- 
cere belief that the greatest single 
factor in raising the American stand- 
ard of living to its present high point 
is the mail order catalog. It was 
through the catalogs of Sears, Roe- 
buck and Co., Montgomery Ward and 
Spiegel and such houses that the great 
mass of the people became familiar 
with the leading modern household 
appliances and it was through the 
colored seed and nursery catalogs that 
the American people became acquaint- 
ed with the modern horticultural de- 
velopments. Were it not for the de- 
mands of these seed and nursery deal- 
ers for newer and better varieties in 
order to enable them to carry on our 
gardeners would still be raising the 
old Acme and Trophy tomatoes, 
Eclipse beet, Black Wax beans, Cory 
corn, Black Spanish watermelon, 
Green Nutmeg muskmelon, old Wil- 
son’s Albany strawberries, Crawford’s 
and Hill’s Chili peaches, etc. These 
were all good varieties but hardly to 
be compared with the present day spe- 
cialties, every one of which has been 
developed almost wholly because of 
the demand of the mail order catalog 
man. This very line of industry is 
now being threatened—and seriously 
threatened—by the constant increase 
in postage rates which our govern- 
ment is finding it necessary to im- 
pose. I think this is a matter of vital 
interest to everybody and I do not 
think it can be met by any effort on 
the part of the mail order men to 
block these increases in rates which 
are inevitable under present condi- 
tions of advancing costs in every line. 
The only way I can conceive of which 
would be fair and just to all parties 
and settle for all time so far as the 
mail order man is concerned this ques- 
tion of increased postal rates would 
be for us to urge our Congressmen 
to pass a law which will make it per- 
missible to make parcel post ship- 
ments charges collect just the same 
as is possible with express shipments. 
This would enable the mail order man 
to set a definite price on his goods 
and put it entirely up to the customer 
to pay the transportation charges re- 
gardless of where he may live; then 
if these rates are too high Congress 
will hear from the people as a whole 
rather than from a few hundred of 
us and they would be expected to act 
ACCOLGING Ly ee ee nn eee 
The point of Expediency seems to 
be the leading factor in most all sorts 
of political action nowadays. Legis- 
lators pay much less attention to 
whether a proposition is right or for 
the best interests of the country or 
not but are governed almost entirely 
by the question of Expediency. “Some 
thing must be done” seems to be the 
watchword and what results? I leave 
it to you to answer it. 
