June 1927

How Wilson Built His Own Home

A WASHINGTON, D. C., school teacher who has charge of manual training in one of the National Capital high schools, has designed and built a cozy six-room house and made by hand most of the furniture, fittings and fixtures which it contains during his vacation days of the last two years.

Making the Backyard Livable

THE once despised and mistreated American backyard is rapidly losing its earlier shabby character and taking place alongside its formerly more favored sister, the front lawn. Cinderella is shaking on her ashes and doffing her rags, stepping next minute into her pretty dress and glass slippers. Now that there are no longer horses to stable or cordwood to stack in awkward piles or other domestic uses to necessitate unsightly spots, the rear premises may yield a full share of loveliness.

The First American Homes Congress

THE first American Homes National Congress, a tiny bud in January, 1926, opened into a vivid, splendid flower at Des Moines in March, 1927, and the seeds which will come from that fine and successful experiment will blossom all over the country.

Homes of Famous Americans

ON the heights behind Oakland, California, overlooking San Francisco Bay and storied Golden Gate you will find no fairer spot on the face of the earth is the home of Joaquin Miller, poet of the Sierras, eccentric genius of the West. "Steep below me lies the valley," he sang, "Deep below me lies the town, Where great sea-ships ride and rally, And the world walks up and down. O, the sea of lights far streaming When the thousand flags are furled-- When the gleaming bay lies dreaming As it duplicates the world!"

Prepare Now for Autumn Vegetables

THERE are few people who realize the possibilities of a garden late in summer and in the fall and fewer still who make any attempt to utilize these possibilities. It is a fact that with a little forethought and attention, a larger assortment of vegetables can be had in the fall than at any other season of the year. The goal of the fall vegetable gardener should be twofold. The first is to furnish the early planted crops good conditions for growth in order that those capable of surviving summer weather will be carried safely thru the hot, dry season.

Better Dahlias and How to Grow Them

THE dahlia does best in a light, mellow loam. A heavy clay soil will produce an abundance of foliage but few and inferior blossoms. Wet, neavy, soggy soil is most unsausiaciory and should be avoided. Any soil, however, which will grow corn and potatoes should produce good dahlias.

The "High C's of Porch Life

NOT less than a hundred persons, I am sure, have confided in me, "When I build my house I'll build me a big, spacious porch and a fireplace, and then if I have any money left I'll add on a kitchen, a bathroom, bedroom, etc.; but I must have a cool, spacious, vine-shaded porch in summer and an open fire in winter."

Under the Library Lamp

ALTHO with this issue of the magazine it is June again, and I know full well that I ought to be writing of books for commencement and wedding gifts, I can't resist offering you instead more of the contest letters describing the reading experiences of other Better Homes and Gardens families all the way from Providence to San Francisco.

Garden Reminders

JUNE is the month of roses and other lovely summer flowers, but it is also the month of hoeing, cultivating, planting, spraying, lawn-mowing and so on. Do not make the mistake, tho, of working so hard there is no time left to enjoy this, the finest month of the year.

The Home Strawberry Bed

PROBABLY few crops grown by the amateur gardener bring the wealth of satisfaction that is derived from a well-grown and well-cared-for bed of strawberries.

Take Care of Your Electric Cleaner

THE first and natural reaction of the housewife to the subject suggested by the title is, no doubt, to wonder with surprise and perhaps amusement how taking care of an electric vacuum cleaner can be worth an entire magazine article. Her cleaner has been giving service month after month and year after year with, to be frank, not even all the care prescribed in the directions accompanying it.

Lawn Clippings Are Valuable

IN common with leaves and other forms of vegetable matter, lawn clippings have a definite fertilizer value when allowed to decompose. On account of the finely divided condition in which they occur, they are more serviceable for this purpose than are leaves and most other forms of vegetable matter.

Conserving the Mothers

THE span of the last generation, someone has observed, will go down in history as the conservation period. We have been warned, and in some cases we have been learning, to conserve our forests and our babies, our oil supply and our wild flowers, our beauty spots and our independence.

Practical Camp Cookery

WHEN culinary experiments are carried out around the home the mere man is relegated to other parts of the house besides the kitchen. Indeed, his advice is seldom, if ever, sought altho his hearty approval of the viands is always welcome. Which is as it should be.

Our Best Recipes for Conserves and Jellies

DID you ever try to select the best one among a hundred or so splendid, mouth-watering recipes? Imagine, then, the earnest judges of the recent contest in this magazine, trying to select the very best one out of about 8,000 recipes, not one of which was poor or uninteresting!

My Experiences in Growing Big Tomatoes

I BEGAN this tomato hobby some years ago when a friend gave me three tomato plants which he called "Bull Moose," saying I could expect some fine tomatoes, but not many fruits to the vine. I found he was Correct, but the quality was so wonderful and the vine so vigorous, the fruits so well-colored and so large, one specimen weighing two pounds seven ounces, I just decided to plant nothing else, planting enough to make up for what I supposed was a poor cropper.

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Do You Know This Wild Flower?

RHODODENDRON, state flower of West Virginia, is one of the most spectacular of our native plants. It is a hardy shrub that reaches its greatest display in the Alleghenies, altho now familiar in gardens almost from coast to coast since rhododendrons can readily be transplanted as long as a sufficient quantity of leaf mold soil is supplied.

Dad's Practical Pointers

WE may be wrong, but we believe that a great many home owners would like to know how to build a good, serviceable cistern themselves. A cistern isn't artistic, but it does increase the value of the home tremendously. It will mean an ever-present supply of soft water at hand.

Bitter Rot of Apple Is Dangerous

LAST year an orchardist in Indiana was in the midst of harvesting his crop of early apples. Every man on the place was needed to pick the fruit. As the fruit rolled into the packing house he found one apple which was affected with bitter rot. In spite of his desperate need for pickers he immediately called out his spraying crew and started them to spraying the entire orchard as a precaution against the bitter rot disease which he had found on one apple.

ACROSS THE EDITOR'S DESK

THOSE of you who complain about your rent, about having to move every two or three years because the landlord "won't fix up the place" or sells it "out from under you"-- consider this fact: The rent the home owner pays never goes up\ Whether you own your home free of debt or are acquiring it under contract payments, the charges you must pay per month are definitely fixed thru the period of your possession.