December 1935

Across the Editor's Desk

EVERGREENS furnish a good subject tor December, and it is worthy of special note that the world's largest evergreen tree has been chosen as the national tree of the United States.

THE Diary OF A PLAIN DIRT GARDENER

Dec. 1 Saturday morning, and I had both Chester and Dick, the neighbor boys, here helping me. We planted the posts for the new grape arbor and dug holes for the hedge I hope to buy to replace the one planted last spring which died from the drouth. Also, the last peonies have arrived and we planted them in the new bed I've been making.

ALL FROM AN Evergreen Tree

THO evergreens are with us the whole year thru, it's at Christmastime that they're indispensable to me. Every plant has its day. Against the dun-brown or white-shrouded earth, evergreens have stood since the beginning of time, exemplary of life everlasting.

Wrap Them Gaily

PAPERS of shimmery softness and papers of silver, papers of gold and wrappings like spun glass, crisp as a winter morning. Patterns streamlined and Diesel-designed, with many a disk and whatnot in motion. Then seals and bows and labels, and stickum on lots of things, including the floor and the dining-room table.

Cards by You

Remember any or the Christmas cards you received? If you do I'll wager they had the personal touch that made you either chuckle or admire and say, "Aren't they clever"? Now why can't we ever do something like that?" The answer is, you can!

A Rock-ribbed Home on Puget Sound

MUCH more than just a house is this clean-cut-as-a-cameo, informal Colonial home, with homelike Cape Cod porch snuggled under its sloping roof. Because of the rare seclusion and wildly picturesque charm of its setting, this 75 x 235 foot property of Mr. and Mrs. Joel McFee, in the Magnolia Bluff district of Seattle, might well claim the distinction of being called a very beautiful estate.

THE LAND OF A Million Scents

THERE is power in scents-- far more than in cents. The former will take you not only miles thru space in a jiffy, but back thru the years in a most astonishing and delightful manner.

A GARDENED HOME FROM OLD MONTEREY

IN DESIGNING this Monterey Bildcost Gardened Home for you ter Homes & Gardens families, strived constantly to give you the in design and planning at a reason cost. By simple, honest framing, common, inexpensive materials, carefully avoiding complicated, ... bits of design and decoration, the has been kept at a minimum.

Extra Cost?

IT'S News TO ME!

"IT'S NEAT," says Nick. "It's nifty," say I, "to have the dry ingredients and all utensils handy, in one cupboard, for baking!" Hanging at the left, on the cabinet door, you see my tools-- measuring cups, spoons, mixing spoons, spatulas, a rotary beater, an egg whisk.

An All-Around Boy's Room

THE thrill of a speeding train, the lure of a schooner's sails... much to his delight, John Voorhees and his mother, Mrs. Tracy Voorhees, Better Homes & Gardens readers of Brooklyn, New York, charted his room's decorations in a nautical manner.

THE MAN NEXT DOOR

Often the first fruit of your daughter's college education turns out to he her discovery on her Christmas vacation at home that all the pictures in the house are bad and that there's something wrong with the furniture.

Home's the Place for It

WHAT do they want at Christmastime? Time was when it was toys and more toys.

Here's Help FOR YOUR 1936 BUDGET!

LET the Better Homes & Gardens Simplified Family Budget Book be your budgetary guide in 1936. It will help you keep your family finances on a sound basis. The price, 25 cents. The new 1936 edition is just off the press. Send for your copy today!

LET THE Feast Be Merry!

YOU can't buy the spirit of Christmas Dinner in packages and tins. You can't concoct it in a spice-laden pudding bowl. It doesn't come brown and crackling from the oven.

I've a Christmas Sweet Tooth

THERE'S nothing so cockle-warming to me as the sight of folks munching delightedly on delicious bits from my sideboard. It gives me an idea of what a grand lot of fun the jolly old Christmas saint must have watching people cheer and turn handsprings over his presents!

I've a Christmas Sweet Tooth

Mix together the first 6 ingredients and cook gently until a little in cold water is very brittle (298°). Mix in the nutmeats and grapenuts. Pour quickly into a well-buttered pan, spreading it very thin. Mark deeply. When cold, break apart.

"My Son Is Underweight"

"A California Sunshine House"

December's on a Party Line

HERE it is Christmas again! Closets bulge with mysteries. Taste-tickling odors drift on every breeze. A whole host of good times beckon.

Club Ideas Galore!

"My Boy Paul"

Landscaping Mistakes You Shouldn't Make

"Argue With Mary? No User!"

Everybody Loves a Softie

WHENEVER a clever new floppy doll or character animal comes home it faces a rush party that must almost flatter it out of its calico wits.

Everybody Loves a Softie

Mr. and Mrs. B. Make Two Discoveries

"DID you see this newspaper item about life insurance?" asked Marion B. one eve ning, some months ago, as she pointed at two paragraphs. "I don't quite understand it."

ADVERTISING Saves

YOU and I want the greatest value obtainable for the money we pay out; at the same time we want the merchandise we buy to serve well the need for which it is bought.

ALONG THE GARDEN PATH

WHEN it comes to choosing Christmas gifts for others, I generally select things I like very much myself. In the same way I choose a garden story which appeals to me and which I think you'll like. At least I have the fun of giving you my choice and remaining perfectly innocent of the fact that you don't like it.