April 1928

Along the Garden Path

WHEN this issue reaches you the weather should not logically remind us of Christmas, but I cannot refrain from calling attention to one of the many fine, warm-hearted suggestions from our after-Christmas mail.

Friendshipping

Tested by Lightning and Proved by Living

I IMAGINE that when you designed your home you wouldn't have thought of calling in some seventeen or eighteen-year-old high school boys and asking them for their advice. What help could "just kids" be? But Mrs. Solar and I did that very thing; and the house which she built according to their model has served us faithfully for many years; we have not found a fault in it, and many have agreed with us that it is a real "Better Home."

George Ade in His Garden

A BIG American flag, flying in front of the tree-embowered house, could have told me George Ade was at home if the hundreds of children, flocking to their annual picnic with the Indiana author as host, had not so explained my driver, one of Mr. Ade's fraternity brothers from Purdue.

New Glads for Home Gardens

BECAUSE the prices of originations in the gladiolus world are, as a rule, extremely high, the average man or woman finds it impracticable to buy any great number of the introductions until the stock has been increased and costs lowered. Lovers of "glads," however, must have some of the new ones, and we want them while they are new.

Homes of Outstanding American Women

IT is impossible to read an article, or listen to a discussion on women in politics, without finding the name of Mrs. Medill McCormick, or Ruth Hanna McCormick, as she is called by those who know her more intimately, mentioned as being among those of the half-dozen outstanding women in the public life of our nation today.

Finally, the Interior

AFTER all is said and done, it's the inside of the home that chiefly promotes or hinders family contentment. If the floors upon which we walk, the kitchen in which we work, the bathroom, the closets and cupboards, and all of the interior details that surround us most of the day, are congenial, then we are just so far along toward peace of mind and family unity.

The Right Shrub for the Spot

ALONG the roadway near a viaduct in a midwestern city flourished a stretch of sumach. So wanton was this sumach in its habits and so sprightly in its scarlet coat in fall that it is no wonder that someone said of it, "You may as well try to tame a squirrel as try to tame sumach."

Charming Color Schemes for Outdoor Living Rooms

THERE is no such thing as an ugly color in flowers. A final effect of ugliness is due only to wrong association; bad company as it were. Scarlet geraniums and lavender-rose petunias lead a cat-and-dog's life if placed close together; likewise do magenta colored phlox and the orange calendula or pink snapdragon and yellow coreopsis.

A Foursquare House

IF you are looking for plans for a house which combines comfort and economy of space with attractiveness and charm you will be interested in this thoro-ly American home.

Zoning Affects the Home

THE one-family house is still considered the ideal home. Most of us would like to have the house located on a piece of ground which is big enough for a back yard and a front yard and has enough land on either side of the house for buffer space between the neighbors.

A Garden That Is Different

A MILLIONAIRE can take a piece of ground and have it transformed into a thing of beauty. My garden demonstrates, however, that with plenty of energy and a willingness to work it is possible for a man in moderate circumstances to develop eventually an estate which a millionaire might covet.

Tomatoes in a Fortnight

LAST year I began picking ripe tomatoes fifteen days after setting the plants in my Missouri garden. Can anyone beat that record? I attribute much of my success with this vegetable, and all of my other garden crops for that matter, to keeping my garden soil open, porous and in a very rich condition.

What a Garden Club Can Do

OUR garden club has about forty members. Nearly all of us are busy mothers and housewives. We meet only once a month from March to November. Our town is a suburb of New York and because of that lacks the local pride of small towns in the West. In spite of these handicaps, I think our club has done a good bit for the community.

Put a New Complexion On Your House

BEAUTY is skin deep, says the old adage. And so it is with your home. Its appearance, as it stands among its neighbors, depends upon a thin film of paint only about eight one-thousandths of an inch thick.

Building From the Inside Out

MY living room, 12 feet by 20 feet in size, has four windows and three door openings, two of the latter being seven feet in width. There is no wall space greater than five feet in length. How shall I arrange my furniture?" This question and a thousand similar ones have been asked me, and the only answer I can think of is to suspend the furniture from the ceiling, like a hammock!

Adventures In Home Beautifying

WHETHER it be the solarium of some pretentious estate or the glassed-in porch of a little home, the sunroom probably centers the light, cheer and sociability of the home.

Soap and Water Surprises

IN our lexicon, the first and most important meaning of cleaning is wash-king with soap and water. We have been called soap-and-water cranks, for we send to our own washtub many things about the house that other housekeepers send to a commercial dry-cleaning establishment.

Some Whys of Child Training

WHY all this commotion about child rearing, anyway? Very great and good men and women were born, grew up and did their appointed work before the word psychology was invented, much less applied to children. Millions of husky physical specimens flourished and broke their neighbors' heads right lustily and died in ripe old age without ever having entertained the faintest suspicion that their diet was not scientifically correct.

The Buffet Dinner Simplifies Service

MANY of us who enjoy entertaining our friends would invite them to dinner oftener and in larger groups if we could lessen the amount of sendee involved; but to plan to serve even twelve with two or three courses seems a difficult undertaking in these days when extra sendee is difficult to secure.

Fancy Rolls Are Easy to Make

IS there any odor in the world more genuinely appetizing than the aroma of warm, freshly baked bread coming from a sunny kitchen? Its only rival is the spicy fragrance of cinnamon rolls or coffee cakes just out of your own oven, suggesting their deliciousness thru their tempting odor.

The Role of the Easter Egg

WHAT a joy and relief it is again to use those delicious "many-egged" recipes without a twinge of conscience. Now that Easter and the fresh-egg season are arriving simultaneously, one may cook eggs in abundance without feeling extravagant.

For Better Housekeeping

CAN you resist the lure of the house- furnishings shop and departments? I can't; and I don't even want to resist, for such a small thing as a new paring knife can put a new edge on the routine work of every day. And when a beautiful new sink is installed, well, it simply makes over the kitchen, and probably one's philosophy of kitchen management, along with it.

A Trip a Day Keeps Humdrum Away

MOST of us are dramatic enough to whistle if we were to be shot at sunrise. The common problem is how to whistle with no name in the paper and no chaplain praying over us. My neighbor always has the whistling look. She has it tho life has tried her with mosquito-like teasing as well as with sorrow.

A Hearty Breakfast

When Father Reads Aloud

THE other day I was considering, as a book reviewer is likely to do every so often, the overwhelming number of books published yearly in the United States. I thought of the thousands of mediocre ones read for a little while and forgotten. Then I thought of the small (by comparison) but respectable number of good ones, with which we have only a brief bowing acquaintance before they, too, are swallowed up by time in its relentless march.

April Work in the Garden

IN the latitude of Boston we home gardeners are likely to plow, harrow, and start planting in April, altho a favorable March speeds up matters. April 19th, the great day in my own home town (Concord) is the day we usually plow our own garden, mainly because we are then sure of masculine advice and aid.

Pointed Paragraphs

Glorified Radiators

WHAT in the world have you done to your radiators?" a friend said to me the other day. "One would never imagine that such utilitarian things could be so beautiful. How did you ever come to do it?"

Dayton's Little Gardens Club

THE Little Gardens club of Dayton, altho but two years old, has won city-wide recognition by the many civic projects it has successfully sponsored. The club's membership is limited to 40 women, most of whom have small gardens of the size of a city lot.

The Piano's Evolution

THE piano, or more correctly, the pianoforte, as we know it today, is the result of a development to which hundreds of minds, greater and lesser, have contributed. The first instrument to be known as the pianoforte, or fortepiano, as it was originally called, was invented by a Florentine, Bartholommeo Cristo-fori, at some time during the last quarter of the seventeenth century.

Toolcraft for Spring

THE neighbors had been having awnings put over then- windows, and so one hot afternoon when I drove in from school-- yes, I teach school-- my wife met me at the door and I was informed that something would have to be done to keep the sun from shining in thru the windows just over the kitchen sink.

A Tool Kit

Timely Garden Reminders

THE plants and shrubs ordered earlier in the season will no doubt be arriving one of these days. When the plants arrive, unpack them carefully and check off their numbers and varieties from your duplicate list. Keep the plants cool and protected from wind and sun until they are ready to be set out.

Old Walnut a la Mode

A FEW months ago Helen Cowles Le Cron, in mentioning a new book on interior decorating, announced that she was looking "for another sort of book on home decoration, a book pointing out to westerners and middle-westerners ways of using to the best advan-tage the furniture they already have at hand.

Golden Daffodils in a Green Glass Bowl

THE daffodils with their graceful stems, abundant foliage and delightful fragrance are without doubt the most popular flowers of early spring for outdoor pictures as well as indoor decoration.

Old Virginia Recipes Simplified

ONE sees and hears of so many southern dishes whose origin is obviously fictitious, that the "genuine article," handed down thru many generations, is always welcome. Knowing the popularity of real Virginia recipes, I am venturing to contribute a few that have been used for over a hundred years at our old homestead in Powhatan county, Virginia.

Fighting Hot Winds

I WOULD like, if I may, to give my experience in fighting the terrible, blighting effect of the hot winds of the western prairies.

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Budgeting, and What It Has Done for Us

IN these days of tempting luxuries the young couple just starting out certainly meets some perplexing problems in trying to "make both ends meet." At least that was our experience when, after being happily married five years ago, we settled down to begin the game of stretching our income to cover the monthly living expenses, together with trying to save a little each year.

An Exchange of "Glad" Ideas

SINCE I cannot afford the luxury of a cutting garden in addition to my small backyard, I do not share the enthusiasm of some of my friends for growing gladiolus single file. My plan is to use them like any other annual, tucking them into the hardy borders wherever there are likely to be bare spots in late summer.

How To Transplant Fruit Trees and Bushes

THE transplanting of fruit plants is an exceedingly important operation, for the manner in which this is done determines to a large degree how the tree or bush will thrive in future years. Many failures may be traced directly to improper planting methods.

A Pattern for a Fence

A NEIGHBOR of mine showed me a plan he used to build a fence. The plan was so simple I thought I would try it myself. I am passing it on for what it is worth.

The Children's Pleasure Chest

ON the opposite page there is a little poem called "The Plant Alphabet." That poem is going to help you to win a nice prize for your little garden; that is, if you like prizes. Head every word of the directions carefully so you will not make a mistake.

Did You Ever Play This?

COUNTING Horses is a good game to play when you are on a long automobile trip. This is the way to play it.

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Across the Editor's Desk

THE editors of Better Homes and Gardens wish to be of the utmost service to home-builders, and for that reason, if you see house plans in the magazine concerning which you wish to have more specific information, write us and we will be glad to give you any additional data we may have.