FINE PREMIUMS 
FOR EARLY ORDERS 
We sure appreciate early orders and these fine 
EXTRAS are our way of saying “Thank you.” 
You are welcome to them if you send your choice 
reasonably early. Be sure to state your choice right 
on your order, otherwise none will be sent. These 
premiums given only on Vegetable Seed and 
Flower Seed orders or orders for a combination of 
Vegetable Seed and Flower Seed from this catalog. 
Choose Any 1 Premium 
With $2.50 to $3.50 Order 
Choose Any 2 Premiums 
With $3.50 to $4.50 Order 
Choose Any 3 Premiums 
With $4.50 to $5.50 Order 
PREMIUM NO. 3 
Premium No. 1. CHERRY QUEEN ZINNIA. Giant 
flowers 5 to 6 inches across, a most brilliant Cherry 
Rose color. Plants grow 21% to 3 feet tall and cover 
themselves with bloom through summer until frost, 
A sensationally fine Zinnia. Large Packet. Worth 
35c. 
Premium No. 2. GRAND GLADIOLUS COLLEC- 
TION of 8 Blooming Size Bulbs. A thrilling mix- 
ture of really fine varieties to bring you a variety 
of colorful bloom. Tall spikes, large flowers. Worth 
45c. 
Premium No. 3. TUBEROSES. One of the most 
sweetly fragrant of all. Waxy white flowers on 
stems 2% to 3 ft. tall. 3 Blooming Size Bulbs. 
Worth 35c. 
STILL MORE PREMIUMS. See Page 2 for extra 
premiums for early orders of Nursery Stock, 
WATCH FOR 
THESE EMBLEMS 
If you want to be first to eat 
677 Varieties Tested 
Here Last Year! 
Why do we talk so much about our Triple- 
Tested program? Why do we spend so much 
time and money on it? Why do we use 76 acres 
of valuable Iowa soil, not in producing plants 
and seeds to sell, but in testing and re-testing 
vegetables, flowers and plants? 
Because we are convinced that it enables us 
to offer our friends and customers the very fin- 
est varieties of vegetable and flower seeds avail- 
able anywhere at any price. We feel this high 
standard can only be maintained by a continu- 
ous program of checking and rechecking —test- 
ing and re-testing; continually looking at new 
varieties and new strains—planting them right 
alongside of old favorite varieties . . . measur- 
ing .. . weighing . . . photographing . . . cook- 
ing and tasting them; checking for earliness, 
tenderness, yield and habit of growth. 
Last summer we planted and checked per- 
formance of 465 varieties of vegetables and 212 
varieties of flowers. We will do it again next 
year. It is a tremendous, never ending job, but it 
gives us a lot of satisfaction because we know 
that it guarantees your satisfaction and adds 
thousands of new names to our customers’ list 
every year. 
Thanks again for your business during the 
past year. We appreciate the letters thousands of 
you write us each year telling of your success 
with Earl May seeds. Write us often and don’t 
hesitate to ask for any help or advice you think 
we can give on your gardening problems. 
Sincerely, 
Edward May 
Copyright 1949 Earl May Seed Co. 
i FIRST 
IN OUR LABORATORY 
Every packet, every pound of our vegetable 
seeds is Laboratory Tested to assure you High 
Germination. We know they are ready and 
“anxious” to grow before they are ever put in 
the packet and bags to be sent out to you. 
Literally, thousands of these tests are made each 
year in our laboratory. That’s one reason why 
our customers report such good stands and such 
high yields from their gardens. 
i” SECOND 
IN OUR 76-ACRE TEST 
GARDENS 
Every year we plant scores of varieties of 
vegetables in our 76-acre test gardens ... 
old favorites and new ones, too. In these tests 
we search out the thriftier, heavier yielding 
varieties. Time and again we discover a superior 
plant growing in an already established. strain. 
From this superior plant our improved strains 
are developed. The name of the variety is the 
same but our tests show one strain to be very 
much better than the others. It is the better, the 
improved strains, we packet for our customers. 
THIRD 
ON OUR TABLES 
Yes, that's the final and very important test 
. . . because you want the finer textured, finer 
flavored vegetables from your garden. We 
bring in truck loads of vegetables from our 
test gardens and just pass them out to folks 
here at the seedhouse to try in their own kitch- 
ens. From all their reports we know exactly 
which varieties give the greatest taste satisfac- 
tion. Plant our seeds and enjoy the finer tex- 
tured, finer flavored, really nicer varieties. 
Garden Seed Guarantee 
- We Guarantee Our Vegetable and Flower Seeds 
to Be: 
1. Good, Strong, High Germinating Seed. 
2. True to Name and As Represented. 
3. Satisfactory or Your Money Back. 
Our seeds are sold subject to your test and ap- 
proval upon delivery to you. If in your judgment 
they are unsatisfactory return them to us within 
ten days and we will make full refund. We give 
no warranty, express or implied, as to the pro- 
ductiveness of any seeds we sell and we will not 
be in any way responsible for the crop. Our lia- 
bility in all instance is limited to the purchase 
price of the seed. 
good things from your gar- Varieties especially recom- 
den, watch for this “EARLY mended for quick freezing are 
indicated by this “FREEZ- 
IRD” blem. It shows : 
is Sane IT” emblem. Watch for it. 
"you the earliest varieties. 
