January 1929

NEW HOMES for ALL

Along the Garden Path

IN the Southland today one may walk down garden paths under balmy skies. In thinking of the warmth and beauty' of that section of our country at this time of year, I am reminded of a group of dauntless women in the small town of Anguilla, Mississippi, which was stricken and almost destroyed by the flood of 1927.

The Diary of a Plain Dirt Gardener

BY way of introduction, on the sixth day of September, 1906, having been notified that I had passed the entrance examination to the state university, I went over to the university Y. M. C. A., joined, and was given a little vest-pocket four-line-a-day diary. That night I made the first entry and began my career in the crime of diary keeping. I kept at it until I broke the record of Samuel Pepys, the famous English diarist.

"If We Had It to do Over Again"

MOST of the houses described in this magazine are houses already created. The plan is set down m definite black lines and you "take it or leave it." But this article is going to be different, for it is the story of a plan that was changed and the reasons for and against the changes.

What I Learned From the Gardens of England

ENGLAND is, par excellence the land of gardens. Every little cottage yard blazes with gorgeous color; every enclosing wall is garlanded with trained vines and covered with espaliered shrubs and fruit trees; every vegetable patch converted into a thing of beauty by cleverness in planning and planting.

An Economist Views the Home

THE economist says that the millions of American homes are our greatest national asset, and he is right. Four or five persons to an average home, say the students of social conditions.

What You Buy When You Buy

HE other afternoon a woman friend of ours began talking enthusiastically about a carpet she had just bought. In the course of the conversation I asked her whether it was an Axminster, a Brussels, a Wilton, a chenille, a tapestry, or a tapestry velvet. "Why, I don't know," she said. "It's a carpet, a soft gray one, with some lavender and blue and pink, and I hope it wears well.

Building Beauty Into Highways

MASSACHUSETTS has brought the beauty of the home-garden into the borders of its highways, thereby laying the foundation for a program of landscape beautification, the beneficial results of which cannot be overestimated.

Evergreens for the South

NATURE, in giving to the South the broad-leaved evergreens, awarded her most charming and delightful floral treasures, for these plants may be used with beautiful effect in a variety of situations.

MODERN LAMPS LOSE BOWS AND FURBELOWS

STYLES in lamps have changed! The be-bowed, flower-decorated, fringed and lace-trimmed lamps are out. In their place we have the so-called modern-art lamp, a thing of plain and distinctive beauty, joyous to behold and decidedly more comfortable to live with than the bows and furbelows that have decorated and shrouded our lights during the last decade.

What Subjects Interest Your Family?

"BUT why do you think it wouldn't be any fun for us to read some books aloud this winter, Stanley?" I can imagine a Better Homes and Gardens' mother asking her 13-year-old son. "You like to go on picnics with the family; you enjoy having us all play games in the evening-- why don't you think it would be pleasant for us to read some books together?"

Minimizing Garden Work

YOUR garden may be a joyous place in which to live summer daylight hours, or it may be a burden. It may require so much of your attention that it is no longer a thing to give pleasure, demanding at times that you hire help to come in to assist you in catching up with the change of seasons; or it may seem to take care of itself, giving abundantly for the little time required to take care of it, never becoming burdensome, and rarely requiring outside help to whip it into shape.

Serving Just the Right Dessert

THE dessert is a part of the meal. If that seems an obvious statement, just reflect how many excellent cooks of your acquaintance fail to follow a well-planned main course with just the right dessert to make the dinner as a whole an unqualified success.

Sour-Cream Cookery Comes Back

BACK in the days when Grandmother was a girl and learning to cook in the approved school of her time-- Mother's kitchen-- sour-cream cookery was the thing. All good cooks of that day preferred sour cream because, as they said, it made things more tender.

Color Enters The Bedroom

DOUBTLESS some enterprising salesmanager is responsible for the thrifty custom of replenishing linens in January! Honor be to his memory! Certainly, the suggestion to store up a few sheets, towels, and table linens now and monogram them before spring house-cleaning time is worth following.

Checking Up With Your Children

DID the past year show a gain or loss for the children? Once or more every year every business house that is worth its salt inventories its stock and checks over its books to find out exactly where it stands as regards assets, liabilities, and prospects for the coming year.

Aids to Better Housekeeping

IT is a wise woman who buys at least one new piece of equipment for her home every month of the year. The interesting things shown on this page are worthy of your consideration in any year-around buying plan that you might adopt for adding to the housekeeping equipment.

Selecting Vegetables for Your Garden

THE selection of the kinds of vegetables to be grown in a home-garden must be governed by the area available for planting and the local supply of staple vegetables, as well as the preference of the family. With these ideas in mind, vegetables may be placed in three general groups:

Come to the Garden Clinic

WHAT should be done out-of-doors in the northern garden at this time of year?-- Iowa.

Ideas for the Home Craftsman

THERE are many small projects the handy man or boy can make in the home workshop that will be found useful and convenient.

Tips for the Handy Man

ACROSS The EDITORS DESK

HAPPY New Year! The staff of Better Homes and Gardens is filled with enthusiasm over the plans for the coming months. There are so many fascinating possibilities to be made into realities. Our program provides for discussions of literally hundreds of helpful subjects, many of which were suggested by readers. I might say that especial attention will be given to the problems of those who are beginning the garden "game" and want, to know the elemental things about flower culture.