January 1932

A Plan for Your Life

Where Beauty Brings Wages

THE city of Waukesha, Wisconsin, has started a movement for the extensive development of city parks, which will accomplish a most commendable twofold purpose: beautify the city and give employment to idle labor.

Along the Garden Path

ON A WINTER evening, snug at home by the fire, I like to sit and rummage thru a drawer in which I keep little bits of treasure-- poems that exactly express my appreciation of a certain flower or things people have said about gardens that have so appealed to me that, at the time, I wrote them down on scraps of paper.

A JOYOUS DOORYARD of a GARDENED HOME

What Your Boy Needs

THE boy of 15 to 16 is fearful and wonderful. He is, on the average, 5 feet 4 inches tall, and he weighs 114 pounds. He is in high school, probably in his sophomore year. Likely he shaves, whether he needs to or not. Perhaps he drives the family car, sometimes with a demure young lady in the front seat beside him.

NO MORE GUESSES, INSTEAD PRECISELY HOW MUCH!

TO TENS of thousands of Better Homes and Gardens families that each year build new homes Better Homes and Gardens offers its BILDCOST HOME PLAN-- two new, exclusive services which at once remove many of the uncertainties and perplexing problems associated with the early planning and building of their new homes.

A MAN'S HOME

MAN'S desires have been taken to heart in designing this delightful home. His needs, not always considered, have received considerable study in laying out the compact floor plan. Just imagine what a difference it makes if there is just one room the man can call his own, a place in which he can smoke or read or work to his heart's content, with never a thought of reproof.

What It Will Cost You to Build It

A TWO-CENT stamp, for postage and handling, will bring you a complete list of materials required to build "A Man's Home," with the exact quantities of each item. This list, tabulated by experts, is a part of Better Homes and Gardens' BILDCOST HOME PLAN.

The Diary of a Plain Dirt Gardener

JANUARY 1. Come right in, Nineteen Thirty-Two, and let me introduce myself. I'm the Dirt Gardener. I live on a little place in the suburbs and have plenty of garden space. Sometimes I think I have too much.

Harry's Back Again

New Annuals for 1932

WHEN we think of zinnias, for instance, our minds automatically bring before us a mental picture of the huge flowers of the type known as Dahlia-flowered Zinnias. They are easy to raise, are fast growing, and they thrive in any climate. Among the more popular new colors in this type, Exquisite heads the list.

A Songster for Your Home

"NO ONE thing I ever bought for my home gave me as much pleasure for the small amount of money invested as my little bird."

All Aboard for the Sylvan Year

SYLVAN year? What does that mean? Haven't you read in poetry and fairy tales about sylvan glens? They are beautiful woodland places with great trees, flowers, mushrooms, brooks, birds, and moths-- places where we like to think that the wood-land fairies, flower pixies, and tree gnomes live.

There are many reasons for Winter Pruning

THE best time to prune flowering shrubs and shade and fruit trees is during the late winter and early spring; that is, during late January, February, all of March, and early April, before growth begins. In the South pruning may be done earlier. The leaves are then off the trees and shrubs, and it is easy to see what one is doing and easier to do it at this time than later, when the press of other work is more demanding.

AMONG OURSELVES

"WHY not have a closet as attractive as the room?" I asked my teenage daughter as we surveyed her freshly decorated bedroom with its dainty walls and crisp, new curtains.

Up-to-date Shelves and Closets

A Mental-Hygiene Program for Every Child

THERE'S an old saying about closing the barn door after the horse has strayed. An application of it is waiting until the bad little boy becomes a full-grown scoundrel before doing anything about it, which is to say that before any program for mental health can become what its name implies, it must be really preventive.

New, Unusual Values in Bathroom Linens

BATHROOM linens were never smarter nor more attractive, and not for a long time have they offered such excellent values. A dollar will buy a great deal more in both style and quality value than it would a year or two ago.

Let's Revive the Merry Old Custom of New Year's Entertaining!

I LIKE to give parties even better than I like to go to them. One reason I like to give them is that I do not make hard work of them.

Your Home Service Bureau

Keep Your COOK BOOK New.. Add Recipes From These Booklets

This is so good!

The Children's Pleasure Chest

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!" rang out the chapel bells. "Wake up! Wake up!" But Bobby Bat, hanging head downward close to his brothers in the snuggest corner of the old stone belfry. paid no attention.

ACROSS THE EDITOR'S DESK

THE other day I was inspecting a new house into which my friend Smith had just moved. He was enthusiastic about a little gadget in the bathroom whereby he could instantly shift the flow of water from the shower to the tub faucet and back again.