October 1939

ACROSS THE Editor's Desk

WHY not exempt owner-occupied homes from ad valorem (according to value) taxation? Startling? Certainly.

THE DIARY of a Plain Dirt Gardener

NOTE: I have to make several week-end business trips this month, and I am planning to arrange them so I can visit a number of trial grounds and nurseries. Before frost comes will be a fine time to see a large collection of annuals at the trial grounds which many of the large seed companies maintain.

IT'S News TO ME!

1 This dripless, clay flower pot, painted white or gay color, requires no saucer and reduces risk of over-or under-watering. A perforated metal disk rests near the bottom of the pot, allows space below the soil for excess water to seep. Roots can grow down for extra moisture. Pots may come as equipment on white wire plant-holders, in stores, or alone cost 25c.

NEWS

YOU'VE read about the startling experiments with colchicine, that deadly poison, once used to treat gout, which doubles the size of flowers and makes hybrid fruits fertile. You've read about "growth substances" that speed germination and root growth and produce watermelons, grapes, tomatoes, and strawberries without seeds.

Which flowers can anyone grow?

Home-Owner, Why Grow Bulbs: Spring bulbs are the gardener's pot of gold. No other group of flowers gives so generously of their beauty for so little care and expense. They'll grow, most of them, in a wide variety of soils. Planted in the fall, they come again and again with spring, some of them even before the last snow has left the ground. They're effective in small groups, in drifts thru the shrubbery border, around the base of the house, in the shade of a tree, around a pool, against fences, along paths and walks, in the lawn, interplanted with other spring; flowers-- most any way you can imagine.

The Gyps May Get you If You Don't Watch Out!

SUPPOSE you saw a hole in your garage roof some morning-- would you climb up, mutter "Abracadabra," and back down satisfied that you'd fixed the hole?

Sight Unseen

THIS is the story of two people who built their home and paid for it without ever seeing it.

Color Harmony KEEPS ROOMS IN TUNE

COLOR is a prima donna-- fascinating but tantalizing. The better we understand it the more we feel its temperament. In last month's article, after talking over some of color's teasing qualities, we decided that for us, as busy homemakers, the easiest and most effective way to work out color schemes for various rooms is to allocate the job to an artist who has made color his lifework.

4 HOMES THAT SOLVE 4 PROBLEMS

SUPPOSE a beautiful ravine drops off to the rear of the site on which you're going to build. How can you shape your house to profit from that site, and how can you keep the garage, which must go up front and not in the ravine, from becoming too obtrusive?

OCTOBER Indoor GARDENING GUIDE

"COLDER and possible heavy frosts," warns the weatherman. To the indoor gardener, that means "last call for bringing in plants."

OCTOBER Outdoor GARDENING GUIDE

OCTOBER'S bright blue weather brings us one of Nature's greatest mysteries. It's this: All during the summer months leaves contain red, yellow, and green materials. The greens, continually being made and used by the plants, are so dominant that we don't see the other colors. But when the cool nights of October come, the green is no longer manufactured, and then the red, yellow, and brown show up in all their brilliance.

Linoleum Comes of Age

"LINOLEUM for our living- room? Nuts!" The Skipper (that's my husband) let fly this yelp of indignant protest when I dropped my first mild bomb about using linoleum in our new home.

FACTS HOT FROM THE OVEN

SPIRIT a sheet of golden cookies, a group of tender quick rolls, or a crispy brown roast from your oven-- and the crowd hails you as One Swell Cook. So here and now we propose to talk ovens-- not broilers, not top-of-range. This is Oven Field Day-- what the new ones are like; how to make the most of the one you have; delectable dishes and meals created quickly, economically, and easily in our modern, educated ovens.

Who Wants Me?

AMERICA is child hungry. Always there have been childless couples who wished to make up their lack, always those who, losing an only-child and unable to have another, assuaged their disappointment thru adoption.

Lucky With Limas and Cupcakes

LADIES-- we've learned about limas and cupcakes from you! Those two, you'll remember, were teamed in our Cooks' Contest announced last April-- and what a mountain of masterpieces you dropped on us! On top o' the mountain sits Barbecued Limas, contributed by Mrs. C. Johnson, of Broad Channel, Long Island, New York, now officially named Dish of the Month for October, winner of the first prize of $5.

"These Versatile Limas"

The Case of the Lost Water Main

BEGGING Mr. Putter's pardon, Mr. Roberts lifted the ringing phone from his desk.

The QUESTION Before the House

There is. A simple and effective way to cut down reverberation is to cushion your ceilings with woodfiber tiles. They can be applied to the plastered surface with a special cement and are highly decorative. The cost isn't high, the material usually running about 10 to 12 cents a square foot.

RAYON Product of Today Promise of Tomorrow

YOU and I are literally surrounded by rayon and likely don't even know it. If asked, we'd probably gamble that our purchases were silk or wool, cotton or linen-- anything but rayon. For we still think of rayon in terms of the slick, synthetic-looking stuff of yesterday.

Let Bill Invade the Guest Room

ONE evening about bedtime Mother missed 15-year-old Bill. He certainly wasn't in the room he shared with young brother Jack. Some force propelled her to the guest room. There, in decided if not beautiful contrast with the gorgeous yellow silk spread, was a flaming red head on the pillow.

CANARY QUIZ

HERE'S a brain test for all admirers of canaries. Even if you're only an amateur canary fan, try the quiz and then turn to the answers on page 75. You'll find it both enjoyable and instructive. Score 5 for each correct true-false venture, 2½ for each split question correctly answered.

Mr. Moss Saves a Neighborhood Face

WHEN it comes to doing both himself and a neighborhood a good turn, we doff our felts to Architect Thomas W. Moss. It was he who saw the good lines of this 80-year- old eyesore which stood on one of the very best residential streets in Plymouth, Michigan.

Goblins' Night Out

TAKE a crisp October evening, the murky smell of burning leaves in the autumn air, stacks of cornstalks and pumpkins, a crowd of fun-loving folks ... and you've all you need for a Halloween Jamboree!

TATTLE TALES

Status Quo Career: We hope Weare Holbrook (Linger Longer Levity, page 62) will forgive us our lapse into Winchellism long enough to pass along this story which Humorist Holbrook privately tells on himself.

Linger Longer Levity

I'VE always admired the brisk efficiency with which characters on the stage make their adieux. The hero and heroine may linger at the garden gate for a last embrace, and the villian may pause on the threshold of the old homestead to hurl a parting threat.

A Wellhead FOR YOUR GARDEN

Here's an Idea!

GONE are the days of overstuffed attics and basements, yet, for all our good intentions, "junk" does still accumulate. There's an ancient radio cabinet in the garage, an antiquated icebox in the basement, shaky chairs with various complaints, and a whole roster of worn-out table linen, shabby books, nice pictures in obsolete frames, and efficient but abused odds and ends.

Cash for Remodeling Pictures

Styled in California for All U.S.

GEORGE McLAREN, age 27, earns $50 a week, pays $45 a month rent for a house built in 1913, thanks heaven it's no more, the way rents are. He shovels coal and ashes all winter. When he wants hot water he grabs the teakettle or trots down to the basement to light the heater.

Banish Terrace Baldness

WELL, well. So you've quite a steep slope on your place. Had you better sod it, use a groundcover, or build a wall? Or should you say to heck with it and go out to play golf?

Tom Thumb and the Lady

Magic Mexico

The Man Next Door

Between happy wives and husbands there must be an agreement that neither shall, in the other's presence, tell his favorite anecdotes oftener than once a month, nor beyond one year after they happened.

Around the Year With Dahlias

Digging: After frost, let blackened plants stand three or four days for the sap to run down; then cut them to the ground, leaving a short stub of stem, to which fasten the label. If you live where winters are severe, dig immediately.

Along the Garden Path

TO KEEP THE WATER from running off when I water my lawn around the edges where it's terraced or where it drops off abruptly, I cut a V-shape trench 3 inches deep along the top of the terrace. I lay the hose in this trench and allow it to run just fast enough to keep the trench full from one end to the other.