April 1923

A CHAT WITH THE PUBLISHER

NOT many days ago, I heard a speaker addressing a group of business men, pause in the midst of his remarks and ask point-blank: "What is the most important institution in our civilization? Quick! Give me the answer!" His audience hesitated; finally someone said it was the government, another thought it was business, another church, and so on.

Your Most Important Investment

Vital Factors to Consider in Buying or Building a Home

Even Before You Buy Your Lot

Points to Keep in Mind in Choosing a Building Site

Homes of Famous Americans

HEY, Black Boy, what yo'-all think yo're doin'?" Daylight. Silence, save for the above curt challenge, after the dull rumble and swaying of the train all night. I raised the Pullman shade and looked out.

How to Grow Dahlias Successfully

How to Grow Dahlias Successfully Practical Experience Which Will Help You in Your Own Gardens

Important Details In Garden Planning

Plan Right and Your Garden Will Be Right

A Personal Letter From the Publisher

Last September when the first issue of Fruit, Garden and Home went into the mails, we were imbued with the idea that the people who live in cities and towns would appreciate a magazine which would deal constructively with their home-making problems both inside and outside the house; in other words, a magazine to serve not only as a sign-board pointing the way but also as a guide and counsellor, which expressed itself in plain, understandable terms.

The Walls of Your Home

Richly Textured Painted Effects You Can Work Out Yourself

How to Choose and Make Curtains

Now Is a Good Time to Re-Curtain Your Home

Choosing Satisfactory Furniture

Choosing Satisfactory Furniture Select Well Made, Substantial Goods With a Reliable Finish

The Neglected Age

UNTIL recently all of our efforts had been directed towards the betterment of the child of school age. He it was whom we were delighted to weigh and measure; remove enlarged adenoids and diseased tonsils; correct foot and posture ailments; repair decayed teeth and remove impacted ones. There was nothing too much to do for a child after he had attained five years.

How To Grow Peas Successfully

How To Grow Peas Successfully Pointers You Should Know About This Old Standby

A Homebuilders' Page of Real, Practical Service

IN the new series of designs for our Home Builders' Page this month we show two extremely interesting yet distinctly different types of homes; design No. 1 is an excellent example of the "Colonial," or what is generally termed "Dutch" Colonial. Design No. 2 is a popular type of the story and one-half cottage. Both houses are of frame construction, the first has the exterior wall covered with shingles while the cottage is cement stucco over metal lath.

Shrubs You Should Know

We eat about one-fourth as many Jonathan as Ben Davis apples. The Ben Davis, heralded as fair without but punk within, has its good points, but is not to be compared to the Jonathan in quality. Some of us evidently do not know the Jonathan. We grow Bridal Wreath (Spirea Van Houttei) in carload lots because the people want it.

A City-Lot Under-Water Farm

AN under-water farm is a novelty even in California where queer "farms" abound.

LAWNS, TREES AND SHRUBS

YOU can now have a weedless lawn, according to experiments which have been conducted for fifteen years at the Rhode Island experiment station, results of which were recently announced. It is all done by making your soil acid, and we are assured that dandelions, quackgrass, dock and purslane will have nothing to do with such a lawn.

Children's Gifts

PRUNING AND SPRAYING GUIDE

A LOT of our readers are asking: "When shall we prune our grapes, and how?" At this time of the year the answer must be, "Do it now."

How to Plant Flowers

Larkspur-- (How) Sow thinly in well-prepared ground, in shallow drills, preferably a cool, rather moist soil, thin to six inches apart when well started. Confine to beds or borders and use liberally in the informal garden. (When) Sow outdoors when danger of frost is past; indoors, for transplanting, in March or April.

A Backyard Coop For 18 Hens

IN the January issue we presented plans for a small backyard coop to accommodate six to ten hens comfortably, which pleased a large number of our readers. Now we are showing plans for a larger coop, one that will easily take care of eighteen to twenty-five hens, if necessary.

Using Paper Sacks

Conserving Space

Favorite Tree Contest

The winners of the "Favorite Tree" Contest are announced herewith. Our readers have shown unusual love for their favorite trees and it was very hard for the judges to complete their work.

Garden Reminders

Prune in early spring only those flowering shrubs that bear their blossoms on the current season's growth, such as the Roses, Hydrangeas, Rose of Sharon, fall flowering Spiraeas, Burning Bush, Genistas, Flowering Locusts, etc. This insures more abundant blossoms.

Did This Ever Happen In Your Kitchen?

Soften them in milk, add raisins, a well-beaten egg and sugar to taste. Bake and serve with your favorite pudding sauce or with cream and sugar. Dried bread, similarly treated, makes excellent bread pudding.

Bedroom Linens

COLORS may come and colors may go, but all-white embroidery never loses its charm and supremacy. White embroidery for bedroom linen is most satisfactory and pleasing and no color, however dainty, can ever take its place. If the materials are selected with care, the designs well chosen and the work exquisitely done, the lovely sheets and pillow-cases that we embroider today will be treasured by coming generations quite as much as we treasure the linen embroidered by our grandmothers.

Along the Garden Path

HAVE you planted that tree yet? There is no better work we can do this month than to plant trees. Arbor day comes in April in the following states: Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, Nebraska, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah and West Virginia. In the other states it comes either earlier or later, as the case may be.