February 1932

ALONG THE GARDEN PATH

FEBRUARY. We are standing upon a bridge, called Midwinter, looking back to the vivid colors of fall and looking forward to the flowers of springtime.

The Colossus of Sumatra

The Diary of a Plain Dirt Gardener

FEBRUARY 1. This Sunday morning found me in a hotel in Madison, Wisconsin, where I arrived last night on a business trip.

George Washington Had a Gardened Home

AT LENGTH I am become a private citizen on the banks of the Potomac; and under the shadow of my own vine and fig-tree, free from the bustle of a camp and the busy scenes of public life, I am solacing myself with those tranquil enjoyments, of which the soldier, who is ever in pursuit of fame, and the courtier, who is always watching the countenance of his prince, in hopes of catching a gracious smile, can have very little conception.

An Attic Can Be Charming

UNDER many a roof there is an attic, not used at all or only for storage, which might with a little effort be transformed into one of the most delightful rooms in the home.

Building and Rebuilding Costs Are 'way Down But you must act right away, we believe

I SAW today at a grocer's a display of goods that could be bought for $1. Beside it was a sign that quoted the prices of 12 months ago, when the same articles would have cost $1.55.

Take Your Choice--STUCCO or BRICK

THE home pictured here is unusually well adapted to various climates thruout the country due to its simplicity of design and the range of exterior treatments possible for its exterior. It is wholesome and unpretentious in character and is designed to be finished in an informal manner.

The Cost to Build This Home

A TWO-CENT stamp, for postage and handling, will bring you a complete list of materials required to build this home, with the exact quantities of each item. This list, carefully prepared by experts, is a part of Better Homes and Gardens' BILDCOST HOME PLAN, announced in the January issue of the magazine.

Cactus--Plants for the Window and the Rock Garden

IT IS just fifteen years since cactus were forcibly brought to my notice. At the time, in New Mexico, a companion stepped on a Spanish-bayonet specimen, and it not only cut thru his shoe but penetrated his foot, making a serious wound.

MIGHTY MAGIC

YOU who feel excitement before a guest's coming-- and one should feel it-- fear not for his entertainment if you observe the sure rule, which is that a guest is best entertained by being listened to, not talked to.

Now You Can Forget to Wind the Clock

BOOK TOOLS

OF ALL the interesting people the the country over who hobnob with me by letter about books, I have one favorite inquirer-- the man or woman who writes: "I didn't have much schooling as a child, but now I want to enrich my life thru books. How shall I start?"

Washington Planted Trees

AMERICA was filled with sylvan glens when our first president lived, 200 years ago. History and copies of Washington's old letters tell us that he loved the trees and sylvan glens that surrounded his Mount Vernon home. He loved them so much that he was always planting more.

Edison's Two Ways of Gardening

SEVEN thousand dollars for a patch of weeds! This would seem to be reversing the usual garden practice with a vengeance. But Thomas Alva Edison was an unusual man.

My Garden Is Colorful Now

COLOR in the outdoor garden is far more necessary and delightful when the somber days of winter come than while summer brightness reigns.

Into the Kitchen We Go

WITH the passing of the old, red woodbox which stood beside the kitchen stove, you might think that the handy man's value to the kitchen had also disappeared.

The Question Before the House

HOW may we figure from our income what amount we can afford to put in a house? Is there any relationship?

Quilts for Machine or Handwork

IS YOUR eightsome playing bridge every meeting? Lots of them aren't because quilts are crowding contract, and in many smart communities it looks as if the Q's have it! Four quilts of long lineage and staunch virtues are shown, along with a fifth as new as it is decorative.

I Choose My Vegetables in February

HANDSOME is as handsome does, and I am just shameless enough to confess that I would rather eat a good baked squash or sink my face up to my ears in a big slice of Irondequoit Muskmelon than look at the most beautiful of blue spruces.

"What Should I Eat for Lunch?"

ONE of the newer forms of indoor sports in which men are showing increasing interest is a quasi-balancing act, the balancing having to do with a wise choice of food, and at the same time foods that suit their particular tastes.

A Stew by Any Name

STEWS may be as savory, as delicious, as tempting to the appetite as any other form of meat dish despite the fact that they are plain and unassuming. They are like a lot of folks --they never get their just desserts. And there is no valid reason why they should not enjoy a favored place among meat dishes, for their economy, food value, and variety.

Kitchen Ranges Now Combine Beauty With Utility

RECENTLY I started out to find out whether gas ranges are keeping in line with the general progress in other types of home equipment.

How the Public School Can Function in a Great Mental-Health Program

THE public school is surely the logical center about which future mental-hygiene programs will be organized. Private philanthropy will never meet the needs, for, altho endowments, private subscriptions, and community chests are of great value in organizing and paying for clinic demonstrations and have done a worthwhile job in educating us all to the advantages of a public program, still private endeavor in mental hygiene will be no more adequate in this widespread undertaking than private schools have been in attacking illiteracy.

The Club Takes Inventory

"A CLUB inventory!" I hear some puzzled woman exclaim. "Well, it won't take long to itemize our belongings. There is the secretary's book, and the president's gavel, and those yearbooks we didn't dispose of, and our small bank account...."

Give a February Party

How to Translate a Menu

TODAY we are simplifying our menus and the names of the dishes of which they are composed. We are also simplifying the titles that recipes bear.

Another Stag Menu

Let's Swap Ideas

Article

The Children's Pleasure Chest

LOWLY was unhappy. All day long he had laid coiled up in the warm patch of sunshine, making wishes. And every time he made a wish he hoped for the same thing over again-- that he were anything, oh anything at all, but a lowly garter snake.

WHEN A WOMAN SHOPS

WITH 24 colors to choose from you can now have a wide seamless carpet up to 18 feet wide which will be cut to fit your own special room, or it may be had cut and bound as a rug of any size.

ACROSS THE EDITOR'S DESK

YOU have doubtless noticed that Harry O'Brien is back with us again, with his contagiously cheerful garden diary. Harry dropped in at our office the other day, and he personally is just like his writings indicate, a jolly good fellow.