March 1938

ACROSS THE Editor's DESK

On page 24 you'll note the experimental return of a familiar feature, "Among Ourselves." Frequently we've published a "Better Homes Among Ourselves" page, but this is the first appearance of a diversified feature by, for, and about Better Homes & Gardens families. It's filled with a little of everything of possible interest-- all contributed by you.

IT'S News TO ME!

"NEAT, isn't it?" remarked John Normile. "This triangular corner china cupboard is an example of excellent design in stock millwork. One manufacturer has had a leading architect, an authority on authentic woodwork detail, design a whole new line in period millwork. Even for a very small and simple house, or if you're remodeling, you can get ready-built mantels, staircases, doorways, and cupboards that are excellent in design. Made at the mill in quantity production, a piece costs much less than if it were made singly for the job.

ARE YOU A City Sucker?

ARE you a sucker for the municipal tax-eater? Does your city play you for a chump? Are you paying for a lot of service you aren't getting? And what have you done about it?

Our Big-Little Garden

TOWERING oaks and hickories about the house-- a sizeable plot beyond-- with more trees fringing the rear lot line-- that combination made us decide to buy this place. A good garden site, one with possibilities-- what better reason for buying?

HOW TO GROW Bush Fruits

DELICIOUS raspberries, blackberries, dewberries, currants, and gooseberries may be raised in your own home garden. All that you can eat, can, make into jams, jellies, and fruit juices are yours for a very small outlay in time, money, and careful planning.

SHALL WE USE CONCRETE?

HORACE (Go West, Young Man) GREELEY built a concrete home on his estate at Chappaqua, New York, in 1852. He built it first as a barn. Later, when fire destroyed his combustible buildings, he swore roundly about things that burned and transformed his barn into an attractive, fireproof home, the oldest one in America. He pioneered a tradition of strength, permanence, fireproofness, and beauty.

Whims and Hobbies

The only true-to-scale reproduction in the world of the birthplace of Robert Burns, the great poet, is located in Wychwood, beautiful New Jersey town that belongs to the children as well as to the grown-ups. It's used as a community playhouse for Wychwood children, cost $5oo, and is the realization of a dream or aspiration of Arthur Ride, New York businessman.

YOUR 1938 WALL-COVERINGS

Dishpan Do's

IF YOUR daily stint of dishwashing makes you want to grind your pretty teeth and glower at the world in general, it's just possible it's your method of attack that's the blame. Not that I've any tricks up my sleeve for making the clean-up job a thing of beauty and a joy forever, but there certainly are ways that a lot of time and elbow grease can be saved and a brand of steam- lined efficiency developed which, if you're any craftsman at all, is bound to tickle your ego and make the aftermeal chore almost, if not quite, a real pleasure.

Gadgets THAT PAY THEIR WAY

HOUSEWARES DEPARTMENTS of department stores and ten-cent emporia nowadays are fascinatingly full of a thousand and one gadgets, all designed to make the kitcheneer's lot easier. Any susceptible homemaker can, in a single afternoon, succumb to enough of them to crowd her out of her own kitchen.

Girls, YOUR BRIDGEWORK!

SPANNING an oral cavity is what the dentist plans, you moan about, and your husband mumbles over as A-1 exhibit of where the money goes. But you'll end by blessing that heaven-sent compounder of molar-trestling, and will thank your lucky stars that you were born into a world of bridgework.

PLANNED FOR A Family of Four

EVERY ONE A Champion

HERE they are-- the new vegetables for 1938 that won All-America awards! This recognition is given novelties by experts. Careful tests are made one year ahead of introduction in 12 test gardens in different parts of the country.

Early-Spring Arrangements

Garden ... and a Dog, Too?

EVERY time I hear someone say that he can't have a dog because he has a nice garden, I have to laugh. Right out loud-- only it may sound like a bark to you, not understanding me as well as my owner does.

Camera Shorts

SMALL? NOT AT ALL

Japan? Cherry Trees?

THE MAN NEXT DOOR

These Early-American living-rooms with highly polished floors and a few scatter rugs are very chaste and dignified, but mighty hard on the knees of the small children.

VICKS

Article

Foods Editor Wasn't Spanked

PLANT New Life IN YOUR GARDEN

THE life of your garden will be the new flowers you grow. True, you can have a good garden without them, but think how much more fun it would be to try a few spanking-new varieties.

A Modern TURNS TO THE Classic

AT THE turn of the nineteenth century, when archaeological studies in classic Greece began, American architects and master builders of the time were quick to realize the possibilities of the Grecian perfection and fundamentals in design translated into wood for American homes. It became an individual expression in architecture of the American people not found in the domestic architecture of Europe.

M-m-m Bread-Making!

THAT zestful aroma of rolls baking has filled the Tasting-Test Kitchen for days, Feather-light yeast rolls piping hot, cinnamon rolls with sugar and spice and sometimes crowned with a luscious topping of brown sugar and nut meats. It's an easy trick to pour over the caramel sirup just before baking.

How Do You Pronounce It?

Sales Manuals FOR PARENTS

DO YOU want people to like you? Then be dependable, but not dignified. Work fast and furiously, or take things more easily-- but work. Nobody, it seems, loves a lazy man.

Sweet Pea

Lenten BAKERS

SEAFOODS, or vegetable or egg main dishes come smartly to table, one-person portions, in this ovenware, shown below. And there are other uses, too! With your tomato-juice cocktail served in the living-room, arrange a tray of these pottery shells (1) four-leaf-clover-wise, holding hot appetizers that really stay hot.

HERE'S AN IDEA!

THANKS FOR THE TIP

I HAD TROUBLE finding an inexpensive saucer to go under flower pots in the window to catch surplus water. Lids of jars and things like that were too flat or too large; trays were too wide. Now I use empty sardine cans with the covers taken off. I paint the cans to match the color of the flower pot.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

THE Diary OF A PLAIN DIRT GARDENER

Now must be recorded a most peculiar incident --something that could happen only because of our somewhat suburban location. Maggie's club was to meet here tonight and all day there was a great business of getting things ready. Toward 4 o'clock Maggie was by the kitchen window, polishing her extra spoons, when she saw something black go flashing by the window, with our little dog hard on its heels.

Article

Curtain Calls for Spring

ALONG THE Garden Path

MANY years ago, a wise man set down the following sententious truth: