General Tnade 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. 22 
WAYLAND, MICHIGAN U.S.A., SEASON OF 1955 
NO. 1 
DAHLIAS 
Although we have our usual plant- 
ing of 80 acres of dahlias-this year 
(over a million plants), I do not 
believe the total acreage in dahlias 
this year will be as large as it was 
last year. If weather conditions are 
favorable to a better crop than last 
year this should provide enough 
dahlias to meet next year’s demands, 
but I believe even in such event most 
of the crop will be marketed through 
the jobbers rather than direct from 
the growers as it has been in past 
years. This is bound to mean higher 
prices and fewer of the better class 
varieties than have usually been 
available to the dealer; and it will 
also tend to place a larger part of the 
crop through the local retail dealer 
such as super-markets, drug and 
hardware stores and the like. 
Reports from our mail order cus- 
tomers show that this class of trade 
is really hurting them — in fact, 
nearly all of them dropped about 20% 
on their catalog sales last year. This 
drop was not on dahlias alone but 
applied to seeds, bulbs, plants, shrubs 
and nearly all horticultural items. I 
attribute much of this drop to the 
fact that the seed catalogs are being 
mailed much later than in years past 
so most of them strike the real planter 
about the same time these goods are 
being offered through the _ retail 
stores, Most people like to plan their 
seed orders in the early winter and 
if the order is not in much before 
planting time it is quite likely to go 
to the local retail store. 
We, therefore, suggest that you get 
your Reservation Order in early this 
year while our stock is still available 
and thus be able to meet market con- 
ditions regardless of whether you sell 
directly by mail or as a jobber. The 
fact that we accept these Reservation 
Orders on a tentative basis protects 
you so far as price is concerned be- 
cause you are certain that our actual 
grower’s prices will not be reduced 
by other growers under present con- 
ditions. 
Among the hundreds of dahlias 
FOR 
which have been listed on the Honor 
Rolls during the past several years 
how many have survived to a point 
where even so few as 5,000 roots are 
available from all sources? I do not 
believe more than a dozen such can 
be named. Surely there must be 
something wrong with the scoring or 
rating system which does not show 
any greater endurance than this rec- 
ord. Dahlias don’t go out of style 
or deteriorate so why is it that the 
Honor Roll of today is so often for- 
gotten tomorrow? 
Mr. Morgan T. Riley makes this 
pertinent remark in an article pub- 
lished in the Flower Grower. “For 
dahlias that have won once can win 
again. They not only can but they 
do.” 
While we are listing more than one 
hundred and fifty varieties of dahlias 
as grown in quantity and available 
to the wholesale trade, yet this does 
not mean that we are advising you 
to make such an extended list for 
your retail trade. In fact, we bhe- 
lieve best results will be obtained by 
the average dealer where his list is 
limited to a reasonable number — say 
two or three collections of four to 
six varieties each — of the standard 
varieties with a few of the newer 
dahlias added to keep the list alive 
and up to date. Where the list is 
well chosen little or no change from 
year to year will be necessary to build 
a steadily increasing demand, In 
fact, most dealers find they sell more 
of such standard varieties as Jane 
Cowl, Mrs. I. de Ver Warner, White 
Wonder, Boutillier, etc., each succeed- 
ing year even with very little change 
in their list of varieties or their reg- 
ular mailing list. 
We wish you could visit us this fall 
and take a trip through our gardens. 
Here you would see, not just a few 
plants of each of a number of varie- 
ties aS you would find in most dahlia 
gardens but whole fields devoted to 
nothing but dahlias — large mass 
plantings of thousands of plants of 
Parl Yak Ve 
each of the leading varieties — all 
under the very highest state of cul- 
tivation possible and offering an 
inspiration to almost any man who 
likes to see things grow and grow 
right. We should also like to have 
you go through our storage cellars. 
Here we have absolutely fireproof and 
frostproof storage built especially for 
dahlias and with a capacity of 3,000,- 
000 roots each season. We believe 
after such a visit to our place you 
would be convinced that your chance 
of getting the best stock available is 
really greater when you deal with us 
than it would be were you to buy from 
some jobber whose growing connec- 
tions are variable and uncertain. 
Every year we have many requests 
for prices on undivided clumps of 
dahlias. To these inquiries we wish 
to state that we do not sell or offer 
for sale undivided clumps at any time. 
We have ample storage space for our 
entire crop, and all clumps are cut 
to one eye divisions ready for plant- 
ing when offered for sale. 
We have been growing dahlias for 
a great many years and we admit 
that in many points we have strayed 
from the beaten paths as regards 
our method of handling our stock. 
Most growers wait until spring before 
dividing their clumps but this would 
be impossible with us both because 
of the fact that we usually start 
shipping early and that we have a 
very large number of clumps to di- 
vide. It is, therefore necessary that 
we start dividing our clumps just as 
soon as we have done digging. When 
the divisions are made each root is 
trimmed, all fresh cuts are treated 
with hydrated lime to prevent mold 
and rot before being placed in our 
stock rooms where they remain until 
time for shipment. As we keep these 
rooms dark, cool and at a very high 
humidity point — just below the point 
of drip —. we are thus able to carry 
our stock through in perfect condi- 
tion without having roots rot or 
shrivel before spring. 
