August 1935

Across the Editor's Desk

BETTER HOMES & GARDENS is edited for you. We have definite methods of determining your desires and give you what you want. Many valuable suggestions come from you as the result of items in this column, so this month I'm going on a rampage of question-asking.

SUMMER DREAMS OF BOYHOOD

She Loved Him Into It!

WHEN big, bluff Sam saw Kate, he reported that he "fell for her like a ton of bricks, and was a goner." Her snappy black eyes, quick decisive voice, and trig little figure spelt for him Romance, with a capital R. And in honeymoon days she settled herself into the curve of his strong arm and discovered there a new and wonderful peace of spirit.

Garden Understudies

AS THE garden pageant moves across the stage some tried-and-true leaders step forth each season. But just as every leading lady requires adequate support, and just as each first violin demands a second fiddle, so in the orchestra of the garden many plants must play minor parts.

California Colonial

A SMALL home which, because of its simple, beautiful lines and quiet dignity, immediately attracts the attention of the most casual passer-by, is this one designed by H. Roy Kelley, well-known Los Angeles architect, for Mr. and Mrs. H. W. McGowan, Better Homes & Gardens readers of that city.

Crazy Quilts and Gardens

I STARTED my garden in much the same manner everyone does. I wanted flowers. I had my back yard spaded into beds of various and sundry shapes and sizes, planting them with whatever annual, perennial, and biennial met my fancy in the seed catalog.

Flowers That Fly

OF ALL the beautiful subjects in the beautiful kingdom of Nature the butterfly is the most beautiful of all. Along with the moths they give us flashes of joy and colors that can be captured only by the soul. In our own North America about 9,500 species of butterflies and moths glorify the land, of which number about 650 are butterflies. We find them, in their different species, from the lowest valleys and the hottest tropics to the highest peaks and the frozen Arctic. Emerson left us:

Have You Ever Sown a Cover Crop?

SINCE the introduction of the automobile successful vegetable-gardening has become annually more and more dependent than ever before upon what is done during hot weather; in fact, many failures may be traced to the neglect of simple, inexpensive attention that anyone can give at this time with the full assurance that the garden will improve and maintain a high standard of excellence.

In August We

REMEMBER your love affair of last May? You fell head over heels for that flaunting, flirtatious beauty, the Oriental Poppy, and vowed you'd fill your garden with it next year. Now's your chance.

Old-fashioned but New

THIS beautiful little house, a water color of which is reproduced on the cover this month, illustrates several points in favor of combining the architectural flavor of the past with the necessities of the present without sacrificing too much of either. Fundamentally this is a story-and-a-half house, a type that is frankly economical.

Exact Cost?

A Dressing Table

How to Know Good Furniture When You See It

"MY NEW drawing-room table is solid walnut. There isn't a pieced board in it," confides Mrs. Smith.

Units REPLACE SUITES

THE Diary of a Plain Dirt Gardener

Aug. 1 What a prospect faced me as I went forth this morning, clad in faded overalls, to view the landscape. Grass is seared dry. Plants are burning up. All my seedling hybrid delphiniums gone.

Miss Argy SNUBS THE FAMILY

THERE are times when those who fraternize with the creeping things of the earth are compelled to lay their dignity upon a sacrificial altar in an effort to satisfy their curiosity. Take, for example, my experience with a very small friend who occupied a residence near the ceiling. Whenever I wished to pay her a call it was necessary to climb upon the dining-room table.

ARE They WEATHERING THE DOG DAYS?

AT ANY time now I expect to be receiving tales of woe from the Better Homes & Gardens family. Amiable children have become obstreperous. Boys and girls who have always eaten are turning up diminutive noses at wholesome food. Babies and toddlers are refusing to sleep, developing other problems so fast their parents can't keep up with them.

THE MAN NEXT DOOR

We've argued all summer whether to spend a 5,000-mile vacation in Quebec, Seattle, or Mexico City. So we're ready any day now to leave for Lake Stonybeach, exactly 205 miles from home....

Make Friends With Your Refrigerator

JUST recently I had the fun of joining in a heated discussion on refrigerators-- and what a temperature those folks did run over this coolest of subjects! It came about at a demonstration given by an authority on both the gas and electric types of automatic refrigerators before a large audience of homemakers.

It's Fun to Compete!

SO SAY we all of us-- so here's another test for your talents. For the best autumn recipe received during August, Better Homes & Gardens will pay $5. This recipe will be illustrated in a photograph as the featured recipe of the Cooks' Round Table in a fall issue of the magazine.

Just Off the Press

IT'S News TO ME

"OFF to the Balsam Woods," says Nick, "to those pools where pike and the big bass wait!" He asks Editor Peterson, an experienced Balsam-Woodser, for tips on wilderness vacations.

A Recognized Asset in Our Nation's Commerce

"THE great assistance of agencies like your magazine in stimulating a fine flow of business between producers and consumers is a recognized asset in our nation's commerce."

Pool-Tent For Little Tots

WHEN is a wading pool a play tent? If you're in our back yard it may be just that on any cool day when fogs are billowing in from the Pacific! In fact, our wading-pool play-tent is such an obligingly adaptable piece of play equipment that perhaps you'd like to make one, too!

Salads FOR MEN

MANY a wife who wails that her husband loathes salads might sing a different song were she to learn to cater to masculine taste in this important branch of the cuisine. Those airy structures that start with marshmal-lows and boiled dressings and proceed to a grand climax of whipped cream topped off with a cherry do very well for festive feminine gatherings.

MORE HOUSE PLANS?

Two Arbors for Your Garden

Troubles With Formulas

Bud PINCH-HITS for Dad

DAD isn't a handy man around the house. He's pretty good with a tennis racquet and better than average with a ping-pong paddle-- but you should see him with a hammer! His skating backwards is quite an accomplishment, but it doesn't fix the screen-door.

Do You Can?

ALONG THE Garden Path

I'M just back from Bermuda --land of flowers. Nature expresses herself in many moods, distinctive of each place.