May 1928

Article

A Compact Six-Room House

HERE is a small house, with six good-sized rooms, the living room being especially large for a house of this size, as it should be, the modern mode of living requiring a living room of generous proportions.

An Ugly Cottage Becomes A Charming Home

ORIGINALLY it was a tiny four-room cottage located in a small suburb of a large city and occupied by a young married couple. It stood on an open prairie where only a few houses were scattered in the distance; not a tree or a shrub ventured within two hundred feet of the spot.

A Garden of Shade-Loving Plants

FIVE years ago I thought I could not have a flower garden because of the many fine old trees which grow on our city lot. I had always felt that trees and flowers could not possibly flourish together.

Asparagus and Its Allies

NOTHING in amateur vegetable gardening pays such big dividends in enjoyment and the saving of cash as does the asparagus bed; and no other investment in such gardening can be maintained with profit for such long periods.

Article

An Engineer Looks at a House

WINDOWS are the weak points in the armor of the house. They are the most flagrant wastrels in the scheme of home economics and home engineering. Windows should never be opened except to be cleaned. Houses should have double-pane windows, to keep heat in and out.

The Modernized Piano

OUR lives today are much a matter of buying and selling. Morning, noon and night we are bombarded from all sides with all sorts of appeals which are conceived for the purpose of selling us something. The morning papers thrust upon us unawares a thought that we cannot possibly live without a certain commodity.

Your Plants Must Be Fed

ACCORDING to the earlier conception of the term '"manure," it meant anyt hing which when applied to the soil would render it more productive. In fact many of the early writers referred to the benefits of tillage as manuring of the land. The use of dung of animals, chalk, marl and other substances for increasing the productivity of the land was known to the early Greeks, Romans and even the early Chinese. During the dark ages, following the decline of the Roman Empire, practically all records of the use of various materials were lost, but the former knowledge was perpetuated by the inmates of the monasteries.

Gardening on the Rim of the Prairie

FOR the purpose of this article "the rim of the prairie" means eastern South Dakota and the country stretching away to the north and away to the south. In this region there is much variation in soils, rainfall, length of seasons, summer heat, time of first frosts, and number and variety of insect pests.

Wisdom in the Wild

HAVE you ever vacationed in a cabin in the north woods in summer? Were there pine trees back of the cabin and waves washing the sands in front? Then it was an ideal place in which to think and dream. For, when the breezes run their fingers gently over them, the needles of the pines are harp strings responding instantly, and the rhythmic swish of the water makes a joyous little accompaniment of sound.

Simple Remedies for Sick Plants

TWO or three years ago a gardener in Terre Haute, Indiana, was annually bothered by the wilt disease in his tomatoes. By the process of elimination the trouble was finally traced to his plant beds, and at the cost" of a little labor in changing the soil, this gardener rid his tomatoes ol the disease.

When It's Your Move

CONGRATULATIONS to the family moving into a better home! Dreams are coming true. The hope every normal individual has sometime during his pilgrimage on this planet is being realized.

News Notes From Garden Clubs

MISS AMERICA is getting her face lifted! Old blemishes of unsightly city lots, neglected parks and unkempt roadsides are being removed; the wrinkles of unattractive yards and gardens are being erased and the bloom of natural beauty is being brought out. A million garden lovers are the beauty doctors and clinics are being held in thousands of garden clubs.

Seven Dinners for Seven Days

THE ideal of every woman in her home, I suspect, is to have every meal so perfectly planned that she need never be even slightly embarrassed at the prospect of unplanned-for guests.

Equalizing Food Costs

HOW do you know what it is costing you for food till the end of the month? How do you decide whether you can afford a leg of lamb to roast for Sunday dinner? How do you prevent a feast and then a famine in your household? These and similar questions have to be answered in some way by every homemaker who is trying to provide satisfactory food for her family within a fairly definite cost per month.

Adventures in Home Beautifying

NOW, praise be to Allah, living room really means the room in which we live! You have read of spacious southeast rooms whose blinds were drawn, whose tufted plush was covered with winding sheets, and whose glory saw the light only during pastoral calls, funerals or such long-to-be-remembered occasions. But imagine keeping the sons and daughters of this generation in awe of a mere room!

The Business of the Household

THAT two can live as cheaply as one sounds pleasing and quite intriguing to a young couple in love, but in cold figures it just cannot be done. Many young people have started married life believing in these magic words, only to find them-selves awakened to the realization that to avoid the rocks financially something must be done.

The Common Sense of Diet

ARE you acquainted with the mother who haunts lectures on child care, takes voluminous notes and always inquires anxiously of the speaker at the end, "Now what is the latest word on raw fruits?" or raw vegetables, or raw eggs, and whose children, in spite of her efforts to keep up with the most recent pronouncements of science, are pale, ill natured, fretful and spindling?

For Better Housekeeping

CONVENIENCES that are truly convenient are the desire and joy of every home-making woman. Here are five that live up to the standard set for this page. We proudly introduce them to you, if you have not already made their acquaintance in the shops.

Summerizing the Porch

THAT the porch is the leading summer attraction there is no doubt. When theaters close, its season opens. Best of all, one need not leave home to enjoy it, and it costs only the little effort and money that are required to make it colorful, comfortable and interesting.

Bread and Butter Books

MAY-- the month of housecleaning and renewing. Windows thrown wide to let in the good, clean, spring sunshine. The practical side of our lives (altho this is an ambiguity, no side of our lives being wholly practical) thrown wide to let in the good clean sunshine of common sense.

Unusual Salad Accessories

POPULAR old salads, like last year's favorite clothes, may acquire an appearance of being in the mode, so to speak, if the latest accessories be combined with them, for they seem then a this year's outfit.

The Bouquet of the Month

Among Ourselves

I GET so much enjoyment from your magazine and look for-ward to its arrival each month eagerly, It seems to breathe friendliness and "human-ness." I have answered many of your advertisers and always mention the name Better Homes and Gardens.

A Miniature Rockery

THE very words "rock garden" have a certain fascination for most gardeners, particularly strong for those who, like myself, are condemned to a tiny garden and a flat pocketbook.

Fit the Vase to the Flower

HAVE you ever been at a loss to find just the vase of proper color for a lovely spray or bouquet of garden flowers? One is fortunate, indeed, who has a variety of beautiful pottery from which to choose. Many of us are not so well equipped, but one need not give up and jam the flowers into inartistic and inappropriate containers, for some lovely vases can be bought at low cost and others can be made at still lower cost.

Colorful Flower Boxes

THIS is the time of year when the household mechanics are urged by other members of the family to build plant boxes. And it is well that they should offer this suggestion, because nothing except a coat of paint will add to the appearance of a home as do decorative blinds and plant boxes filled with bright colored flowers.

The Evolution of an Old Hall Tree

STRANGE tho it may sound, an ordinary sewing machine gave the impetus to transform an old fashioned hall tree into two useful articles for my home.

Refinishing Varnished Woodwork and Furniture

ANY person who has gone to the trouble and expense of fine woodwork and beautifully finished pieces of furniture in his home, should never be content to see this finish perish and remain shabby in appearance for any length of time without restoring the finish to its original luster and beauty.

First Lessons in Gardening

Outline the place the border is to occupy, marking it off with the garden hose or a line of plaster. An irregular boundary outline is ordinarily most effective.

We Grow Our Vitamins

MY husband has always believed that a garden should be planted in straight rows, and he is probably right, tho I cannot be sure for I have never had any experience with that kind of garden. Each year I make an heroic resolve that this year my garden will have straight rows.

The Pink Azalea

ONE of the native American plants that was highly treasured by the early Dutch settlers is the pink azalea or pinxter flower. It was christened the pinxter flower because the blooms first appeared on Whitsunday, a day called pingster by the Dutch. The beautiful shrub soon found its way across the waters where European gardeners hybrid-ized it with other species, forming the basis of many of the handsome horticultural azaleas that later returned to their native land under new guises caused by mixture with foreign blood.

Summer Care of Tulips

A GREAT deal of the success with tulips after the first year depends upon the way in which the plants are handled after they have done flowering. It is the popular belief that the plants are hurt by having their flower stems cut off for household or other decoration; but this is a mistake.

Article

A NEW CHRYSANTHEMUM

Four Important Accessories

The Children's Pleasure Chest

I WISH you knew my dad. He and I are great chums. One day Dad said, "Elizabeth, the children like your swing so well, why can't we get something else for them to like?"

A Good Frame for Valuable Seedlings

EXPENSIVE seed of tree shrubs and evergreens often thrive best when planted outdoors in May protected and shaded by lath.

Across the Editor's Desk

WE are congratulating ourselves this month on securing an estimate of the average American home from the point of view of one of the greatest engineers in the world, Charles F. Kettering. His position as vice president of General Motors and his various achievements in the engineering field cause him to stand out preeminent in his field.