March 1927

The Art of Manliness

The Houses People are Building

AT least 500,000 homes will be built in America during 1927. What a colossal building program! Imagine a city of the size of Milwaukee and a new home going up for every man, woman and child in the city and you have the picture.

How I Developed My Fruit Garden

THE writer is one of Uncle Sam's large staff of postal employees, serving as a city mail carrier in a city located about forty miles south of St. Paul, Minnesota. The first two years after marriage, I rented a home to live in.

"The Neglected Dozen"

SOME of the most appetizing and highly nutritious vegetables are for some reason totally ignored by a great many gardeners. It may be that some of these are as yet unknown to the average gardener and if so, let this be a means of getting you acquainted with their hidden qualities. To others of you having a limited garden space you may imagine there remains no area after planting the more essential vegetables.

Give the Shrubs A Chance

TAKING care of the shrubs which ornament one's home grounds should be a good deal like bringing up the children. Each child and each shrub must be given the right sort of food and care for health and strength, and there must be a goodly measure of discipline and training. But just as each youngster of the family has a personality and should be encouraged to grow up with that individuality distinct, so each kind of shrub in its outdoor home should be allowed to unfold just as Mother Nature intended it should in color and form and outline.

An Old House In a New Dress

THE old house, typical of so many suburban homes, had stood on a prominent corner for many years, just as long as the oldest citizens could remember. Its weather-beaten boards, the huge trees surrounding it, the spacious lawn all gave a feeling of age as tho the house had grown up with the site and become a part of it. Indeed, everyone expected the structure to remain unmolested for a good many years, or until that part of the suburb would become "citified" and the old home torn down to be replaced by a modern "three room apartment" building.

Homes of Famous Americans

IT is in the late afternoon of the eleventh of November, Seventeen Hundred Eighty-one. Fringes of the dreamy Indian summertime still linger in the mellow glow of the slanting sun. Soon there is to be excitement born of the end of a long and bitter war-- excitement to leap full-blown into the breast of every person in the village of Fredericksburg. Excitement and pride and happiness, in spite of the fact that death has lately entered the halls of Kenmore and beckoned a bony finger to husband and father.

The Home of the Radiance Rose

NORTH, south, east, west; hot, cold, dry, damp; in the Arizona desert or in the humid air of the New England seacoast; in Florida and in Maine-- inquiry will prove that the one rose that grows best, blooms best, and stands most has the appropriate name of Radiance.

To Help You When You Entertain

MAYBE the World War did it (we blame all our vices and virtues on that great tragedy, you know); maybe we parents who remember the resentment we used to feel when we were given a simple supper in the pantry after our eyes had feasted upon tempting morsels to be offered to guests in the dining room, are responsible for the change; maybe our feeling of lack of poise as we rubbed up against the world, after years of being told "Children should be seen but not heard" has brought in the new order of things; and maybe a lot of other circumstances have contributed to giving a new stimulus to hospitality in the home.

My Neighbor's Hillside Garden

A GARDEN seldom has a beginning-- it just starts! An iris is planted here, some tulips there, and on it grows until it becomes "a thing of beauty and a joy forever." Now this is just the manner in which the garden of A. P. Stoner, a Des Moines physician, came about; and we who have watched the transformation of this rough, grassy hillside into a charming garden have never ceased to marvel, and some way from the constant watching we have grown to love it.

The Piano a Vital Factor in American Home Life

MUSIC is fundamental, one of the great sources of inspiration, health, strength and happiness." In these words the late Luther Burbank gave his answer to a reporter who had asked him what he thought of music. The world's most renowned natural scientist was an ardent lover and student of music, well qualified not only to define it but to appreciate its many influences.

Tomatoes are the Health Vegetable

TOMATOES are the one vegetable that be the garden large or small universally finds a place for itself in it. Nor has this confidence in the sterling worth of tomatoes fresh, raw, cooked, or canned been misplaced because it readily adapts itself to staking and close planting; it is easily grown and produces large quantities where other vegetables do not; it lends itself readily to any portion of the meal be it soup, salad or vegetable, and in addition to all these remarkable qualities it is most easily canned and keeps all of its goodness in that state as well as the others.

Decorating The Lawn and Garden

CERTAINLY no other child of the garden works half so hard as the "steppies" to make the house itself attractive, nor does any other plant have the welcoming of our guests so much at heart.

Playing "Favorites" in the Family

GAILY Alice tripped thru the hall. In passing, she carelessly threw her strap-bound books upon the seat in the window niche. Quickly stripping off coat and hat, she dexterously tossed these in the same general direction. Then, with an impromptu caper, she danced her way into the living room. In mid-cavort, she ended her frolicsome entry before the radio. Balanced on right foot, with left leg extended straight out behind, she stopped gracefully to adjust the dials.

Nut Trees for the Dooryard

EVEN in the matter of planting our gardens the Scriptures give us good advice, for they suggest that "the vine and the fig tree" are the proper accompaniments for the home. Of course, we have to take that phrase figuratively rather than literally-- we who live in temperate or northern zones-- but we can apply the lesson of it literally enough. The lesson is to use productive plants in our landscaping. And among productive plants none are better suited to home use than the nut tree.

Putting Personality Into a Room

I (I HOPE no one will mind my starting out with the very personal pronoun) am sitting as I write in the living room of a furnished apartment in an apartment hotel. It is the living room in the place I call "home" this winter. Very likely someone will sniff and declare that an apartment hotel is no proper home for a man who spends his life advocating a home for everybody and everybody in a home of his own. And it isn't.

Under the Library Lamp

EVERY once in a while a book comes out that fills a crying need, and fills that need so perfectly that we wonder how we ever managed to get along without it. It is of these long-needed books that I wish to tell you this month-- new books about which you may not have heard.

Becoming Color Schemes for The House

WHILE the young man's fancy is lightly conforming to schedule during the spring months, the home owner is experiencing some cavortings of his own imagination. There is a sudden betrayal of his allegiance to the fireside and the beguiling seed catalogs and a substitution of interest in the outside of his house.

Brushing Lacquer and How to Use It

A NEW finishing material for home use has sprung up almost overnight-- brushing lacquer, which dries in a few minutes.

How to Use Commercial Fertilizers

HOW do you use these fertilizers?" the neighbors asked me. And "what's the difference between the various kinds?" Also, "nitrogen fertilizer is the kind that is needed, of course."

Weedless Bluegrass Lawns

IS your lawn a source of pride and pleasure or is it an unkempt weed patch of which you are justly ashamed? Your lawn-- the background of your house-- is your card of introduction to the public and, like a visiting card, should be neat and attractive.

Enter the Six-Year Molar

WHEN a child is six years old, something very important comes into his life. Such a very important something, that one is tempted to personify it and write its name in capital letters, even tho its place in the scheme of things is only third tooth from the end in the jaw, let us say, of Any Adult, with end position in the case of Any Child.

Good Things for The First Course

FIRST impressions of meals, as of persons, linger. That is why a successful first course is of importance. It starts the repast happily and fills the diners with joyful anticipation of the foods that are to follow.

Aids to Better Housekeeping

Refurnishing With Slip Covers

TIME was when the term "slip covers" referred to the strictly utilitarian covers made to protect furniture from dust and sunlight while a house was unoccupied for any extended length of time. Now, however, we are finding that by making these same slip covers of a decorative material we can use them all the year round, and they not only protect from dust and too-bright light, but add a distinct decorative note.

How to Succeed with Parsnips

THERE is nothing that seems to be more difficult to grow in the home garden of late than parsnips which, in my opinion, is due to the fact that they are too often planted in poor soil. Parsnips are one of the crops that require rich humus soil to do well. Fresh stable manure, however, should not be used in connection with the crop for it not only injures the growth but causes many extra root worms which makes the roots unfit for use.

Garden Reminders

AS you read this a young blizzard may be raging outside your door, the ground may be covered with snow, or the sun may be shining and the spring buds swelling. At any rate, it is high time to be thinking of the 1927 garden. For, no matter where you live, along with March comes spring fever with gardening complications.

Article

The Stories of Some Famous Songs

BY far the most popular and the most appreciated of all music is the music of songs. Someone has said, and rightly so: "If words were given us to conceal our thoughts, music must have been given us to express them, to turn our tears to laughter and our laughter to tears; to make our brief joys long and brief."

How We Made Our Arbor

When we moved into our new home, a neighbor gave us two rambler rose bushes, one of which grew so well that I soon concluded some sort of trellis or arbor would be required.

Dad's Practical Pointers

NEXT month the winning tool contest letter will be shown here. So many good letters are coming in each day that it is unfortunate only the best can be used. To all of you who have written in, we want to thank you, tho, for your cooperation and interest. It is you who help with letters, ideas and suggestions to make this little corner better, that all credit should go.

A Simple Method of Striking Cuttings

Cuttings of phloxes, geraniums, fuchsias, roses, various shrubs and most perennials may easily be rooted in the following manner: Procure a large flower pot, the larger the better.

Golden Bantam Corn

I FOUND out several years ago that if I was to enjoy Golden Bantam corn on my table I would have to raise it in my garden, as all the vegetable dealers to whom I talked on the subject seemed to be of the opinion that the public generally would not pay the price per dozen for such small ears when those twice the size could be had for the same money.

Needlework Directions

THIS month we are featuring designs calling for such simple stitchery as lazy daisy, outline and French knots, and of a type that is suitable for a variety of uses. The motives are so arranged that they may be used effectively on scarfs, towels, cushions, curtains, luncheon sets, runners, bags, and the smaller motifs may be applied to napkins, tray covers, hot plate mats, cases for silver, hot roll covers and other small articles.

Article

Paint Brushes and Why

BRUSHES and paint are equally important when doing any painting. One without the other will not go very far toward preserving the house or refinishing the inside but when good paint is thoroly applied with good brushes the personal satisfaction of having painted your own house is inestimable and cannot be counted in dollars and cents, tho the saving of money is also a factor.

Let's Make a Sampler

Along the Garden Path

I AM sure that we first begin really to realize the great debt all lovers of gardens owe to the genius of Luther Burbank when we read the pages of the current Burbank catalog. We are told that it will be the last one from his experimental gardens.

The Regal Lily

My Housekeeping Schedule

A Workable Poultry Plan

FOR nearly twenty years consecutively I have been keeping chickens in town. I have persisted in spite of the fact that during these years I have lived in more towns in more states than many people visit in a lifetime. Consequently I have kept chickens under a greater variety of conditions than fall to most people.

Pointers about Aphids

PLANT LICE-- their name is legion," and besides being among the most ubiquitous and serious of the enemies to plant life of all kinds, they have the distinction of being perhaps the most interesting. Among insects they are exceptional and anamalous in many of their characteristics.

My Sand Box and How I Use It

AMONG the handiest of the homely additions to an amateur's equipment for home gardening is, I have found, a "sand-box." Built in any convenient shape or size, more preferably on legs, and filled with clean, sharp sand, it soon becomes almost indispensable.

The Home That Thrift Built

THE stories of various readers relative to their experiences in gaining homes of their own, together with your powerful editorials along the same line, have been of great interest to us. Particularly so, since we have just ended a successful struggle to win a home.

ACROSS THE EDITOR'S DESK

I AM extremely happy to call your attention to the American Homes National Congress which will convene in Des Moines, Iowa, March 8-11, inclusive. The program of the Congress is under the auspices of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, of which Mrs. Mary Sherman of Colorado is President. The Congress is launched as a vehicle thru which to afford a forum of discussion concerning the present-day problems of the American Home.