October 1934

A Fulfillment and a Dedication

TWELVE years ago this fall, almost to the month, we launched the first issue of this magazine, an entirely new idea in the publishing world. The magazine recognized the dawn of a new era of home betterment, and has devoted itself exclusively to home improvement.

Here's How

Go to your local bank, building-and-loan association, or other lending agency. Ask for a remodeling loan to be made under the provisions of the National Housing Act. The Government has provided facilities whereby home-loan agencies can make loans with a minimum of red tape and incidental expense, insuring them against loss.

THE Diary OF A PLAIN DIRT GARDENER

This month is to be dedicated to house-cleaning in the garden. I'm not going to do another thing until I get all over the place, get the weeds cleared out-- well, partly cleared out, anyhow-- cut back things that need to be cut back and tidy the whole place up generally. I vow it. So the first chore was to mow the lawn. As I pushed the mower back and forth, I kept wondering whether one more time will be all I'll have to do it this year.

IT'S news TO ME!

"What, pie again?" says Nick, "how popular grape pie is getting!" That's because a grape-juice bottling company now packs seeded Concord grapes in glass for home pie-baking. Grape pie, easy to make and take.

The Best of the 1934!

OCTOBER means bidding goodby to the garden, with all the cool comfort it offered during torrid months, and welcoming the glow and warmth of the fireside to take its place. With fresh eyes, and the family's needs in mind, we now look around the home, finding many ways to add to its comfort and beauty.

Our Guest Room Has No Days Off!

FOR months at a time our guest room-- one of the most attractive rooms in our home-- stood idle, the bed simply serving between visits as a place to lay out clean clothes up from the laundry. But what a change we have made, for this year, with the children growing, we felt the need of an extra room upstairs that we could all use on occasion.

Kitchens in Logical Order

IN THE last few years we have gone a little to the extreme in making kitchens small and compact. We allowed no room for daughter to help without just hovering around the edges, or for a friend who dropped in while we were baking a cake to sit and chat without having to move her chair every few minutes.

The ANT

WHEN you see a tiny, apparently insignificant ant crossing your garden path, following the planks of your porch, nosing about the trunk of a tree, or even exploring your sugar-bowl, you naturally think of it as an insect whose purpose in life is insidious. ...

Let's Discuss Your Plumbing

BLACKSMITH and builder are celebrated in story and song, but who ever heard a poem about a plumber? Plumbing's so downright prosaic we never think about it until something goes wrong. But your home has few parts more important to comfortable living than its plumbing system.

Highlights on Lighting

JUST as literature reflects the spirit of the times, architectural forms assume the characteristics of the period in which they are built. The design of architectural accessories, such as lighting fixtures, also reflects faithfully the period of its time. So it is not surprising that the fixture manufacturers are today following a definite modern tendency.

THE Floor-Coverings WE BUY

WHEN you walk into a room, what do you see? Does the rug hop off the floor and seem to prance around and say "Look at me!"?

Color MAKES YOUR ROOMS

SLUMBER-TIME Accessories

NEW blankets take note of restful bedrooms with quiet backgrounds, and come in plain colorings which fit perfectly into such decorative schemes. Most luxurious choice of all is the pure white blanket, inspired by the success of white touches in bedroom accessories.

Tomorrow's Garden Today

I HAD been invited to visit the Home of Tomorrow at Mansfield, Ohio. Carl R. Frye, landscape architect, had told me several weeks previously that with Better Homes & Gardens' direction and supervision he was designing a garden in keeping with the modern-style architecture and he had invited me to see the result.

A Bildcost Gardened Home For $30 a month

TO MANY of us $30 sounds unbelievably low as rent, yet for that sum this cottage of Early American inspiration can be yours.

Exact Cost?

Lawrence Tibbett Talks

IT ISN'T often that doting fathers sing lullabies to their babes. But no baby could object if it were the voice of Lawrence Tibbett singing him to sleep, as the Metropolitan Opera star sometimes sings to his 9-months-old son Michael. Michael doesn't object, either-- when papa is singing pianissimo.

About Lullabies

Rock-a-bye baby, on the tree top, When the bough bends, the cradle will rock. When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall

Everybody Come!

THE invitations are out and it's to be a large affair. (Any party of 25, we consider, is a large affair.) The boys are going to have a stag supper and everyone will come, of course. Who ever heard of anyone's turning down an invitation to a stag party!

The Bulbs with the Long Name

"OH, COME now!" my friend exclaimed, impatiently. "There's no sense in acting so high-brow! What's its common, everyday name?"

MEMORANDUM

NATURE has immutable laws that cannot be broken or ignored with impunity and the shortest road to success is to follow the lessons given by the Great Teacher.

Good Light Saves Child Health

FEW dangers faced by young children entail more serious consequences to their health and future than light to which they are subjected in the home. There are literally scores of thousands of children whose future is being handicapped by poor lighting.

Shall I Send My Child to Nursery School?

IT IS housecleaning time. In addition to the usual upset attendant upon this operation, cupboards are being painted and all those seldom-used objects which generally repose upon high shelves lie exposed and defenceless upon chairs and tables.

Herb Garden

BRINGING the herb garden to the kitchen window can accomplish two things at the same time: the window may be made a delight to the eye, and the herbs may be kept near enough at hand to be a constant reminder to the cook that just a few leaves from this and that herb are precisely what is needed to transform an ordinary sauce into a culinary triumph.

Let George Do It!

JUST where or when the cynical observation "Let George do it" originated I don't know. Certainly it was the utterance of a suggestion by someone who recognized the need for doing something and was too lazy, or too fearful, or too humble to do it himself.

The Question Before the House

OUR thermostat is unsatisfactory in that it allows a variation of as much as 6 degrees, altho it is set for only a 2-degree change. Even at 70 degrees the house is often uncomfortable, especially around the floor-line. Is this the best performance we may expect?

An Acorn--a Czar and a Sailor Lad

WHAT can the Pipes of Pan be saying now? Listen! "Tootle-- oot, Aces of the Green Triangle in The Junior Garden Clubs of America.

Can We Keep Out the Cold?

EACH winter more gardens are smothered than frozen. The main object of covering is not to keep plants warm, as many suppose, but rather to hold them at a fairly even degree of cold.

Novels That Picture Real Life

THE novel that thrusts its roots deep in the soil and springs from a fully savored, well-loved way of life and the story that has caught the full swing of our tremendous pioneer drama are the tales to relish in today's sound and fury.

Fried Chicken

ALONG THE Garden Path

IT WAS 1634 in Holland. Dr. Charles de Lecluse, botanist and traveler, had just returned from the Orient. With him he brought some rare and curious specimens; in fact, the curious specimens were tulips, which, as soon as they were planted in his garden, caused the envy and admiration of all flower-lovers.