November 1929

Conquering the New Frontier of Civilized Ugliness

ONE who drives into the city from the west is greeted by a spectacle of radiant flowers and green shrubs, flanked by cool pools of water, the borders set off by stone bridges and walks. It seems to be a deliberately ordered sunken garden, made by a prodigious amount of excavation.

ALONG the GARDEN PATH

AND now we come to November! These are the days when the gardens are ready for a nap, when the air is brisk, when we are pleased with our homes.

The Diary of a Plain Dirt Gardener

NOVEMBER 1. Last night there came driving up, all unexpectedly, a young chap who used to be a student in my classes some years ago, with his wife, who was also a student of mine, together with their two children. They were homeward bound from a tour thru the West.

We Furnish "A Home Designed for You,"

FROM THE cool shade of the entrance porch of this Georgian-Colonial house, the plans for which were shown in the February issue of Better Homes and Gardens, we pass thru the formally appointed hall with its quaintly patterned wallpaper into the living-room, which is to the right-hand side.

WINTER GARDENS of SEMI-TROPICS

THE charm of the outdoor winter garden in Florida, where one can repeat his summer's floral gayety in the Northern states, is easily attained and well rewards the gardener.

The NEWCOMER SOWS BEAUTIFUL ANNUALS

I HAVE lived in Florida for the past ten years, having come there from Michigan, and since that time I have been noticing how differently flowers and plants grow in Florida.

The Creation of a Home Scale

"I READ what you wrote about getting the right proportion of beauty, peace, and comfort in a home, Mother," my young married daughter said to me, sitting in her Cogswell chair in her bright little sun parlor. "I can see how you should balance them and that everything you buy should contribute towards the right balance between the three.

Conifers for Southern Gardens

UNTIL recent years ornamental plantings in the South were made up almost exclusively of broadleaf evergreens and deciduous shrubs and trees. Even in the grand old gardens of such centers as Natchez, New Orleans, and Mobile, very few conifers were found. This was probably due to the wealth of native broadleaf evergreens and beautiful deciduous flowering shrubs so close at hand which could be obtained with so little expense, and perhaps also to the style of architecture so much in vogue.

A Very Different Window Garden

I HAVE always felt the thrill of color in a garden. The love of eternal spring is possessed by most of us, and when October dies in a flame of scarlet and russet, and November skies look down on a colorless world, we are cheered by the thought that we may plan an indoor garden.

Garden and Cottage Truly One

THERE are several ways of beginning this story. One could be coldly practical and say: Here is a house that a few years ago was a stable. Look at it now! It stands as a striking example of what a capable architect can do. On the other hand, one could be pleasantly sentimental and tell a story of man's universal longing for a home, a place of one's own, with a snug fireside in winter and a garden in summer, that in this case was finally translated into concrete fact.

Preparing to Remake the Old Interior

"TOMORROW never comes"! That is one way of saying very tersely that, if you really wish to tackle any job, it does not pay to wait for a "more convenient season." Like the Spanish manana, that proverbial "more convenient season" has an elusive habit of slipping daily farther and farther away into the future until it practically vanishes altogether. The task of remaking an old interior that you know is unsatisfactory, and fully intend to do over, too often invites the seductive postponement till the "more convenient season"-- which almost never comes.

WHAT HOME OWNERS SHOULD KNOW ABOUT PROPERTY INSURANCE

IT HAPPENED at a bridge party. And the host himself was responsible. He had rested his cigarette on an ash tray, turned his attention to making a bid of five spades doubled, and was startled to find a few minutes later that the cigarette had fallen off onto the floor and burned into a much-prized oriental rug.

AMONG OURSELVES

I THOUGHT the readers of Better Homes and Gardens would like to hear about our Silver Lake swans, Jake and his family. They are popular among our friends who have been watching the twisted threads of their fate for several years.

With the Junior Garden Clubs of AMERICA

COUSIN MARION, at Better Homes and Gardens, can picture her thousands of Junior Garden Club members standing at attention, all in a row, and on their shoulders a spade, a rake, or a hoe. For what are they waiting?

Psychology Enters the Kitchen

THE average homemaker spends about 70 percent of her working time in the kitchen. And the average homemaker is tired by evening! It is not the necessary work she does that makes her tired-- it is the unnecessary work she does while accomplishing the essentials. She is usually not to blame for this dissipation of strength and time, altho there are always a few persons who are utterly unable to work effectively.

The Dangerous Age. When Is It?

MADAM Elinor Glyn may tell you, if you will let her, that the dangerous age is somewhere in the forties. Perhaps the high-school principal will contend that it is in the teens. I propose to argue that the dangerous age, from the mental-health point of view, comes between the ages of 6 and 18 months.

Card or Bookplate, It's a Gift

LAST year, with a group of home-beautifying suggestions, we ofered the Garden Gate Bookplate, of which so many took advantage, either to mark their own beloved books or to give to some book-loving friend. This year we have added two charming new designs, Order No. 642, a Viking ship which glories in the spirit of adventure, and Order No. 643, a dream castle which will appeal to the lover of romance.

In Our Testing Tasting Kitchen

THIS month we invite you behind the scenes, so to speak, into our Better Homes and Gardens kitchen. And as we do so we are reminded of how kitchens have come up in the world. In early Colonial times, the kitchen was located somewhere out in the back forty, so far away from the house, we are told, that cooks had to be fast on their feet to get a meal to the table with any degree of warmth in it.

Foolproof Cookery, Or Bound to Succeed

THERE are tricks to all trades, and this applies as much to the trade, or art, of cookery as to anything else. Most experienced cooks, probably, hardly realize just what it is that makes their cakes always light, their sauces smooth, their pastry tender. Our grandmothers used to attribute this to a "light hand."

Cooking Wild Game

MANY an ardent hunter has returned home enthusiastically with the prized game only to have it ruined in the cooking. Game cookery is a very special form of the culinary art, and hence one which very few homemakers know much about.

Kitchen Indispensables You Can Buy for a Dollar or Less

THE colorful modern kitchen is often a thing of beauty. It will prove a joy forever to the home manager only if she gives to the purchase of the important little things some of the same thoughtful consideration which enters into the selection of her maior pieces of equipment.

Homemaking Helps

"Many a Tale Their Music Tells"

HORNS and drums and pipes and strings all playing together have come into the family living-room with the stock-in-trade of the greatest concert halls. All America is now having nightly home concerts. With the inpouring of music from perfected mechanism, the fireside listener feels the need of program notes, or even more, of some plan for developing a keener enjoyment in this gift of the gods, now bestowed upon every mortal.

A Special Piece Bag

Balance in the Home Aquarium

"MASTER," said a fisherman in one of Shakespeare's lesser plays, "how do fish live in the sea?" "Like men do on the land," replied the other fisherman. "The big ones eat up the little ones."

Matrimony-Vine

Ask the Book Editor That

WHAT are the questions most often put to the book editor of this magazine? I have been pondering over that this morning and have finally decided to write an article about it. Because-- for every reader who puts his particular problem into words, there must be a hundred (often a thousand, usually many more) who never get so far as a letter.

Come to the Garden Clinic

NOVEMBER is one of the great planting months of the year the country over, but many persons may question this because of the perennial controversy of fall vs spring planting, especially in regard to woody materials, such as trees, shrubs, and vines. For anything that may be planted in the fall, I should in most cases recommend fall planting in preference to spring.

My Neighbor's Blackboard

I GET the biggest kick out of my neighbor's blackboard. It hangs on a wall in the kitchen, where she uses it for a bulletin board. There are some of the funniest messages written on it, and as I am a "back-door neighbor," I thoroly enjoy the things I find there:

"BOOK OF BEST CAKE RECIPES"

A Step-and-Stoop Saver for Mother

OF THE many kitchen conveniences available to the modern homemaker, a handy rack near the stove for stewpans, pots, and lids is too often overlooked. Such a rack is the greatest convenience, as any woman will agree after a weary period of stooping to put rattling pans and their relatives to bed on the lower shelves of a cabinet, the customary place.

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A Garbage Sack

The Children's Pleasure Chest

DEAR Little Contributors: Yesterday I had a very odd experience. For rainy-day pastime, I went thru "The Pleasure Chest," rereading all your stories carefully, really hoping that some boy or girl had chanced to write about Thanksgiving, so that it would be fine for the November page.

When Two Bank As One

"RIGHTLY understood and not abused," said the banker, speaking about family financing, "one of the most satisfying instruments is a joint bank deposit. For the husband and wife who must watch income and outgo, and who watch them together, its advantages are definite and obvious.

Cooking From the November Garden

ACROSS THE EDITOR'S DESK

THIS being the month of Thanksgiving, it is pertinent to pause, and to analyze, if we can, the spirit of gratitude to an all-wise Giver. A man was caught in a mass of quicksand and rocks at the bottom of a well. To him the blue sky, a little fresh air, food, and freedom were exquisite blessings. He was intensely grateful when these were restored to him.