March 1926

I Want To See Them Laughing!

THE queerest thing in our family life is the attitude some people have towards their children. I have seen a father, for instance, take a brickbat and knock his own son off the top of a garage where the boy had taken refuge against his father's beatings. Of course, this father was not worthy of the name-- a fiend and a brute in human form-- living in the slums of a great city. But I have seen other fathers, wearing starched cuffs and neatly pressed trousers, hurl a brickbat and strike the dearest aspirations of their own sons a blow from which they never recovered.

How I Get Unusual Results With My Garden

THE city lot on which I live is just an ordinary one-- forty-five feet wide and two hundred feet deep but in the rear of it I have a vegetable garden which is the pride of this section. A few years ago this spot was virtually Missingword a brick and junk pile but by building up the soil and by practising careful cultivation it has been made to produce unusual results.

The House a Contractor Built for Himself

WE had motored north from the Golden Gate thru the redwood districts of California. Our car had laboriously picked its way from Eureka to Crescent City; and from Crescent City to Trinidad, where the whaling ships divulge their cargoes, and then over Oregon Mountain to Grant's Pass, Oregon.

How I Built My Own Lily Pool

THE first lily pool I made was only an experiment and I know it is quite the same with other enthusiasts; namely, trying to do something they know very little about. Since, however, we have undertaken several more and are at present propagating lilies and breeding goldfish in them. The photographs accompanying this article show but one year's progress in landscaping.

Sleight of Hand in the Vegetable Garden

THERE are a great many timesavers and "lifesaving" devices that should be taken advantage of in every home garden. It profits the gardener little to buy the finest seed or the finest plants obtainable if they are improperly planted, the sensitive little roots allowed to suffer by allowing the intense unmerciful heat of the sun to beat down upon them, unshaded, immediately after transplanting.

Homes of Famous Americans

IT was long before I was old enough to go to school that an incident occurred which lingers in my mind to this day. We were living in a small Iowa town where my father ran a general store. Across the backyard fence were a couple of youngsters with whom I soon struck up an acquaintance. We had great fun playing thru the long days of childhood, as only youngsters can.

Building An Electric Hotbed

IN the city it is getting harder and harder each year to get fresh manure for a hotbed just when you want it, and so last February we decided to try electric lights instead of manure for a heater. In plan the hotbed is a little less than three feet square. It sets a foot and a half in the ground and astride a tile drain in the garden.

Our City Vegetable Garden

I HAVE never been able to understand why the majority of city people consider vegetable gardens in their backyards unsightly, misplaced nuisances, and for that reason never have any. It certainly cannot be that the work necessarily entailed in caring for such small plots of ground usually available in the backyard of the average city home frightens them, since they irrigate and mow and trim their backyard lawns without murmuring.

The American Peony Society and Its Work

TWENTY-TWO years ago the American Peony Society was organized and the following year, July 2, 1904, was incorporated under the laws of the state of New York.

Our Friends, the Bees

I NOW have a radio outfit in my house and every night there are talks on "Dahlias and How to Grow Them," or "The Perennial Garden" or "Grass is Immortal." Which makes me think of the seed catalog, that interesting piece of literature that is now arriving by every mail. What I have in mind is that if I were publishing a seed catalog, and if it were the custom to print a dedication in the seed catalog as it is to print one in other books, I know what dedication I would print in my catalog.

Practical Tree Surgery for the Home Owner

IT is quite safe to say that well-developed shade trees in the prime and height of their beauty, trees that are at once the beauty and comfort of the home yard, are priceless. You would not sell such a tree from your property nor would you hesitate to pay to the limit of your means to have a mature tree established on your place should it be lacking. Surely such precious possessions need guarding. I often feel that since their span of life far exceeds our own, we must think of them as ours only in trust.

Have You Neglected Asparagus?

WHY is it that a vegetable which almost every gardener likes to have on his table, in season and out, is not found growing in a large number of the backyard "money saving plots?" Why does the amateur leave this vegetable out of his plan? There are probably two reasons. First, he imagines that his space is too limited for such a rank growing crop and second, he knows little about the actual start this vegetable should have, he feels incapable of nursing this plant thru the infancy stage, when as a matter of fact, it is a very simple matter.

A Little Scrapbook of Lattices and Arbors

THE rose arbor illustrated on this page is attractive and easily made. It consists of two panel sides, roof framing and latticed arches at the front and back. The legs are to be embedded in the ground eighteen inches so that the structure will stand firmly when completed.

A Picturesque Frame House

Landscape Design for Unit House No. 7

Nature Lore for Youthful Readers

IF you should look at the eggs of a number of kinds of wild birds, you would find that most of them are larger at one end than at the other. There is good reason for this. For one thing, where a nest happens to be shallow, there is less danger of the eggs rolling out and being broken.

Gardening for Diabetics

THERE are two classes of people in the world who need gardens or at least the vegetable products of gardens. The first class consists of all diabetics and the second class includes all the rest of mankind.

My Venture in Growing Sweet Peas

MY venture in sweet pea raising was due to orders to live out of doors that I might regain my health. Always a devotee of flowers I started the raising of sweet peas in a small plot eight feet in length and four feet in width, utilizing a strip of ground not available for vegetable planting.

Plant Perennials Thoughtfully

TO most people a flower garden means masses of perennials arranged for succession of bloom from earliest spring to the heavy frosts of late autumn. As there is no other class of plant material which has such a wealth of variety, or a more vivid array of color the difficulty of securing a satisfying perennial garden becomes apparent.

What Homes Were Like in Roman Times

TO enter the house of a citizen of the ancient Roman Empire, to wander thru its rooms and corridors and courtyards, observe its furniture and decorations, and obtain a full and accurate idea of what home life was like two thousand years ago-- few experiences could be more fascinating than this.

The Busy Woman's Garden

I LIKE gardening, but I have no time for it!" We often hear this said, and on the face of the proposition, in regard to the man or woman whose time is filled to the brim, it seems as if it might be true. How can we find time to sandwich in the care of a vegetable or flower garden, or both, among the endless occupations of a busy life?

Garden Reminders

MARCH brings interesting work to gardeners everywhere. In this section of the country (central Iowa) it is often too cold to do much except plan, clean up yards and garden, and tend to the hotbed, tho often impatient garden fans prepare the seed bed and put in some hardy things the last of the month.

Roses for the Small Garden

IN order to have a rose garden, one must become acquainted with certain fundamental principles and follow them carefully.

Dad's Practical Pointers

SO many of your folks have responded to our recent request for ideas for this department that we are giving several this month from Better Homes and Gardens readers. Let them come! Perhaps some day all of this space can be devoted to a fraternal exchange of good ideas. Remember too, that you will receive a check for every idea which can be fitted in.

Hints on Planting Fruit Trees

AT this season there are many, doubt less, who are planning to set fruit trees. It may be an orchard or just a few trees for family use. In either case it pays to use careful methods. Remember, the tree is being set for many years and therefore the job should be done just as nearly right as possible.

How to Control Apple Scab

THERE is no disease of apples that is more common and destructive than the scab. Scab is best known by its ragged-margined brown spots on the fruit, but it also occurs on the leaves and twigs. It is the fruit disease that causes the losses, but it is the leaf disease that makes these losses possible.

Continuous Bloom on 24x30 Feet

I HAVE found it possible to have con tinuous bloom on a plot 24x30 feet. I had such a garden up until recently, when my collection of flowers became so numerous that I thought best to move, to get more room. Now I have a larger garden, but the memory of the smaller, more intimate one, remains.

A Wild Flower of Rare Beauty

NO garden is complete without a few wild flowers. Some may be naturalized in odd corners where they will continue to bloom for years with little attention. Others will thrive best under cultivation and care. The common spiderwort (Tradescantia) of the moist open prairies has been the greatest sur prise of any wild plant which I have ever transplanted to my garden.

Until We Buy New Things

IN describing a small house or apartment, the artist can easily picture the correct or ideal small house with carefully selected furnishings to show us what we could or should have. But for those of us who have had our houses and furniture for a good many years-- what are we going to do with what we have?

How to Grow the Amaryllis

The Care of Baby Chicks

THE ambition of practically every back-lotter at some time or other is to hatch and brood his own chicks. I know of nothing more fascinating than to raise to maturity a brood with the aid of a mother hen. You undoubtedly have been told time and again that your small lot will not permit you to raise your own stock, and that pullets may be had cheaper than you can raise them yourself.

A Valuable Fertilizer

GARDENERS who keep fowls have a very valuable fertilizer for use in their gardens but many do not seem to know how to handle it to the best advantage. To obtain the full value of this high grade fertilizer it is only necessary to observe a few simple rules.

Every Garden Needs a Windbreak

HOW is your garden protected? Any garden protected from the north winds and slightly from the west will be much earlier and chances are thriftier than those that are not.

Brightening the Corners

EVEN tho the interior of your house does not call for new wallpaper and fresh paint this spring, there are many things you may do to make the rooms more shiny and bright for the coming months. At least each spring we go over the rooms in our home in the following way and have come to the conclusion that the results obtained are well worth the time and small amount of money involved.

Evergreens for Every Home

NO lawn or garden is completely landscaped unless it includes somewhere in the plantings a group of evergreens, for conifers of all kinds bring a richness to the landscape not obtained in any other way. They must, however, be more carefully placed and cared for than deciduous shrubs and trees for they are rather more expensive and somewhat harder to grow.

Growing Better Lilacs

The Music of The Christian Religion

AS the Christian Church has been responsible for the protection and preservation thru the centuries of some of the greatest art treasures of the world, so has that church also been the mother of the art of music as we have it today. Music in its crude forms goes back beyond the dawn of civilization, but as an art it did not really begin until some little time after the birth of Christ when the Roman Catholic priests were endeavoring to arrange a definite ritual for their church.

Eating By Budget Is Easy

WOULD you please tell me," said Peggy, pausing in the midst of one of her trips from dining room to kitchen with a tray of dishes, "what is the world you are saving that collection of little dabs for? There isn't one big enough to be good for an earthly thing."

When the Wife's Away--Let's Cook

SOME mothers teach their boys to cook, and some don't. When I was a little fellow my mother went on a trip, leaving myself and my dad home alone. "Don't you worry, Mother," Dad assured her, "we'll get along all right!"

How to Make a Portfolio

HAVE you ever started to make some little thing for your home, wondered and puzzled as to what you would make it out of and then, suddenly, the unexpected happened? You discovered so many different ways that you wanted to make all of them. If you like that experience then by all means start a portfolio.

Needlework Directions

NOW is the time for all good housewives to come to the aid of their linen closet," paraphrases the needle worker. And there are so many delightful articles that can be made quickly and without much expense that the task of replenishing the linen closet is truly a happy one.

A Hundred-Year-Old Bed

WE have an old four-post bed, that is over one hundred years old, a present from an old gentleman friend who cared more for modern furniture. It had been stored away, unused, for many, many years. It is of the big post, cord-bed style, handmade from sycamore.

Speaking of Food Combinations

DID you ever stop to realize that many of our most tasty dishes consist of combinations of foods so entirely different that nothing but accident or someone's overdeveloped bump of inquisitiveness can account for their being discovered?

Along the Garden Path

A FEW weeks ago I visited a private greenhouse on a southern estate. I have never visited a greenhouse anywhere, whether commercial or private, that was better managed. However, that is not the point that most impressed me during my visit with the gardener. His viewpoint was the most singular I have ever encountered among flower-growers.

Radio Aerials

THE location and the kind of aerial de pends upon how near you are to a broadcasting station and on the type of radio you decide you can afford to buy or make. For real comfort and usefulness your selection should be limited to those sets which operate a loud speaker. If you live within a twenty-five mile circle of a station a low-priced set will work with a loud speaker and a short length of wire, either inside or outside the house, for the aerial.

Keeping the Backyard Tidy

THERE are few places about the home more difficult to keep spick and span than the area along the backyard fence. Refuse and garbage, paper and rags seem to accumulate there naturally and wait for a good brisk wind to scatter them all over the place. Unless there is some sort of provision made to handle the refuse that comes from the house, it is almost impossible to keep the backyard clean, while with simple facilities there need be no raking up of rubbish and scattered paper or garbage.

ACROSS THE EDITOR'S DESK

NEVER before have the homemakers of America been afforded such an arsenal of service and helpfulness as has been brought together in this and the preceding issue of Better Homes and Gardens. Those of you who like a few vegetables in the garden will find this the greatest collection of practical information ever placed in your hands. There is meat in every paragraph, all the way from that fine article on page 5 by Mr. Cooley.