November 1939

ACROSS THE Editor's Desk

WITH Old Worlds shattering their institutions and exhausting their resources by devastating conflict, nothing can prevent the advance of the New World as the leader of mankind in the pursuit of happiness. On the people of the United States is laid a responsibility which they have not sought, and this responsibility, cultural and economic, is inescapable.

THE DIARY of a Plain Dirt Gardener REG. U.S. PAT. OFF.

Nov. 1 What a glorious bit of Indian Summer appeared as morning mists cleared away. Only one thing marred its classic beauty-- the mailman with the usual stack of bills.

IT'S NEWS TO ME! REG. U.S. PAT. OFF.

An accurate room thermometer, recessed in a satin-chrome finish electric light switch plate, about 4½ x 2¾ inches, may replace your room's present wall switch plate; and it's easy to install.

We "Expose" Decorators

IN SOME ten years of working around, for, and with interior decorators, I've found that they're wonderfully real people. What's more, they're the most delightful individualists in the world when it comes to furnishing their own homes.

"Tom Thumb" Bewitches a Working Girl

MINE is a postage stamp of a house, silvery white ... with blue shutters and a blue door ... with dormer windows and window boxes gay with red geraniums ... with a fence set back from the sidewalk and an elm tree shading the diminutive garage. And in it I.

No Nice Garage Goes Bare

Its Gardens and Homes

"MEXICANS love flowers," they'll tell you in their abbreviated English. And you'll love Mexico and Mexicans because they do love flowers and because they have so many of them.

Its Crafts

Few spots on earth are more alluring than romantic, old Mexico. Its charm is magnetic, and best described by the old saying that, "Once the dust of Mexico has settled on your heart, you have no rest in any other land."

Its General Interests

SNUGGLED up against our southern borders is a foreign land of restful bliss and beauty-- a civilization older than that of Egypt, combining in one small area all the old-world flavor of both Europe and Asia.

Look for Two-Tag Lamps

BE WATER-WISE

MY FIRST serious venture in cooking foods was preparation of Floating Island for company. It was wonderful Floating Island. The guests said so. And in a burst of 15-year-old pride, I confided that I had cooked the meringue in cistern water!

Indoor Gardening Guide

"WHAT are the eight best houseplants?" we asked 35 of our country's leading florists. By "best" we meant a combination of show-girl decorativeness with Sampsonlike ability to stand punishment, to thrive without coddling.

Outdoor Gardening Guide

NOVEMBER gives us some of our very best licks in the garden. Trees and shrubs are dormant; the ground is dry and hard, so that little damage can be done to the lawn; soil works nicely and packs well about roots. There's enough tang in the air that you can really work with a zest, and before you know it that transplanting job you have dreaded all summer has melted into a beautiful planting.

4-Bedroom Cape Cod

ALL true Cape Cod houses are impressive for their simplicity, their frugality, their quaint charm. This one, from its white picket fence to its fat, black-capped chimney, is impressive for these things. But it's impressive for more, too.

Boost Your Range top Reputation

Article

"TURN her on and let her go" is the slogan of too many folks when it comes to top-of-range cooking. Ovens, of course, took a bit of learning-- about thermostats and correct baking temperatures and all. But up on top too often gas goes on full tilt or the current is switched to "high"-- and then we wail over cooking failures.

We Parents

This mother has found an exciting antidote for selfishness and softness. Sometimes I think our children don't appreciate America and the splendid heritage of their pioneer forefathers.

Dollars for Doughnuts

THE most dollars-- five exactly-- go to Mildred Simek, of Chicago, Illinois, first-prize winner of our dual contest for Ground-Meat Dishes and Doughnut and Cruller recipes announced last May. Tho Miss Simek is only 19, her Meat Balls Supreme, "discovered by adding a little of this and that," are wonderfully well-flavored, fluffy, and moist.

Family Thanksgiving Service

Looking for Something Upholstered?

WE DECORATE our homes because we can't help ourselves! Decorating, as an art, doesn't exist for itself alone, nor because it's the fashionable thing to do.

Guide Booklet

Write for Information

How to Enlarge an Old House

Example No. 1: For 15 years Thomas and Marie Thomas Derrick talked of the day when they'd return to the old Derrick home place near Michigantown, Indiana, to remodel it for their own home. Michigantown was their community. It was there that their relatives lived, there that they had been two kids together and gone to school together.

Good Gardens ARE BORN NOW

NO, THEY'RE not born in April or May, as most amateurs fondly believe. If you would gather flowers in spring, tra, la, now is the time either to start a new garden or give an elixir of life to an old one. And surely crisp fall weather is a keener incentive than the languid airs of spring--especially once you realize it's the fall bird that gets the early bloom.

TATTLE TALES

Milestone: There are times when dentists can be just beautifully painless. An illustrious example is the case of Mr. Dieter and the bathtub. Mr. Dieter is our assistant art director. Not long ago, as has been previously related, Mr. Dieter built a new home. Someone-- we suspect Mr. Dieter himself-- dropped a heavy file into the new bathtub from several feet up. It lit on pointed end, and the result was a fetching little hole in the enamel.

Holiday Meals

FOUR QUICK TRICKS FOR Dining-Rooms

The Man Next Door REG. U.S. PAT. OFF.

Well, it's none too early to begin my campaign to dissuade the b. w. from serving artichokes this year with the Thanksgiving turkey, which is a little like doing a crossword puzzle during a musical comedy.

Send Your Garden to Winter Quarters

WINTER is one season a plantlover can't possibly ignore. Winter protection must be attended to--"up North"-- even if you're poetic about it.

DAD'S Practical Pointers

Imitation marble can be made from plaster of Paris. Mix dry (not oiled) color-powder thoroly in one batch of plaster. Put more plaster in another container. Add water to the two portions at the same time and mix quickly. Then add the colored portion to the white batch, stir two or three times, and dump quickly in the mold to set.

Along the Garden Path REG. U.S. PAT. OFF.

NEEDING A SIFTING arrangement for preparing good soil for potting plants and sowing seeds, I rigged the contraption shown in the accompanying sketch. The soil is thrown on the screen with a shovel; gravity does the rest. The screen used is ¼-inch mesh.