ACROSS THE Editor's Desk
THE glory of Easter is expressed with age-long solemnity and gorgeous magnificence within cathedrals and churches. But liturgy and ritual aren't the only ceremonials that, at this season, symbolize the hopes of mankind....
Read ArticleTATTLE TALES
The Pictures on the Cover: In three glimpses into others' homes this month we hope you'll find many ideas for your own. Ourselves-- we liked the idea, in the white-painted room, of having interesting bits of china and glass as relief to the regularity of bookshelves; and the placement of the desk at right angles.
Read ArticleTHE DIARY of a Plain Dirt Gardener
April 1 Let's see. When was it that I made out my spring seed order? It must have been back in February. But it wasn't until this afternoon, after I had finished with my classwork, that I finally managed to get downtown to get those seeds I want. There's one mighty good reason, tho, for the delay, besides my general laziness. It's financial.
Read ArticleAbrim With Personality
IF YOU were to ask Architect Herberger how he came to design this home, he'd probably say it was because he went on a motor trip thru the Deep South, and let the matter drop there. But that wouldn't tell you the whole story. You need first to know that he's a southern California architect and that much of the new architecture out there is sparkling and brittle but a little scornful of homespun personality.
Read ArticleYour Rose Questions Answered
Q Clear up my confusion. How can I tell the various groups of roses apart? A There are five principal types of garden roses-- Tea Roses, Polyantha Roses, Hybrid Perpetuals, Hybrid Teas, and Floribunda Roses.
Read ArticleCLOSET CLOSE-UPS
AS EVERY woman knows, a house is no more convenient than its closets. If in building a new house or remodeling an old one you must economize-- and who doesn't?-- don't skimp on closets. If you do, disorder and dismay will forever dog your days as you unwillingly play the despairing game of Pick-up, Put-away, and Look-again.
Read ArticleMiracle of the Marshes
IN THE breast of every Child of Adam who ever thrust spade into unwilling earth has been engendered, at some moment, a feeling of despair.
Read ArticleColor Schemes FOR SPRING
Mrs. J. D. Grove of New York writes: Whatever shall I do with our old-fashioned "front parlor"? It's little and dark, with narrow windows. So please-- a color scheme and other ideas?
Read ArticleReflections on Pools
WHEN the sun shines bright on my old Kentucky home, it really shines bright. And altho the darkies are gay, the borders are not, for too often heat plays false to perennials, annuals, and evergreens.
Read ArticleAPRIL Indoor Gardening Guide
WITH spring in the air and house-cleaning on the mind, the first warm day tempts us to put our houseplants out-of-doors. But caution! Houseplants, like people, have become tender from being indoors all winter. Unlike us, they can't put on a coat to temper the sudden change.
Read ArticleAPRIL Outdoor Gardening Guide
IN APRIL the garden gets down to work in earnest. The soil begins to warm up, and underground plant tissues exert heavy pressure, trying to get up to the light. Listen closely and you'll hear the expansion of shoots and buds as they push thru dead leaves, especially if you're out in a woodland ravine taking lessons and imbibing ambition from the world's head gardener-- Mother Nature.
Read ArticleGardens on the Shady Side
DO YOU have a labor-saving lawn-- the kind where you only need to push the mower over two-thirds of it because the other third isn't there, is just bare ground? I did, two years ago.
Read ArticleCome and Get It, West Point!
WEST POINT! It's a name wreathed around with so much glamour that sometimes we forget the human story behind it-- a story full of fascination for every boy and girl, every mother and father in the country.
Read ArticleHelp Her Hurdle the Difficult Ages
JUST what's back of the gulf that grows so often between a girl and her family, particularly her mother, at the age of puberty? And isn't there some way we can avoid it?
Read ArticleThe QUESTION Before the House
Decorators are drifting away from painted woodwork to natural finishes or light stains to achieve a particular decorative effect. One advantage is that if the proper finish or stain is chosen, age adds to the attractiveness. Very light effects can be obtained with most woods, and no wood requires a dark finish unless a particularly needed effect requires dark shades.
Read ArticleIN THE SPIRIT OF Modern Planning
MUCH about this house is unique. The exterior is entirely brick. Even corbeled brick overhang is used instead of wood trim to eliminate future painting costs. Exterior trims are limited to chrome-finish railing bars, entrance and stair lamps, garage-door bands, and horizontal aluminum bars on the full-view windows.
Read ArticleHome-Wanters--ATTENTION!
IF YOU have any plans to build, buy, or remodel a home with FHA financing, this is important!
Read ArticleLiving-Room Gossip
IT WAS past mid-afternoon in late spring. No one was at home and a hush had fallen over the house after the confusion of a busy morning. A vibrant freshness over all gave evidence of general housecleaning, and that not an article had escaped the vigilance of the mistress was apparent from gleaming brass, the mellowed sheen of old woods, and the clearness of fine glass.
Read ArticleIris Bloom the Year Around
TULIPS will come, but tulips must go. Hollyhocks and delphinium also have their brief seasons of bloom. So do most of our favorites-- that is, all but the iris.
Read ArticleHandy House
LOOK closely at the floor plans, gentlemen, and you'll see how a home like this helps you to keep out of the doghouse. You see a house designed so that it's almost as easy to put things where they belong as to push them under the bed or leave them on top of the refrigerator in the kitchen.
Read ArticleLady, Spare That Rug!
RUGS, no matter how sturdily made or highly pedigreed, certainly do have a tough time keeping beautiful. And so would you, if every day of your life you had grit ground into you, food spilled upon you, furniture poking you persistently, and feet endlessly marching over your top-side.
Read ArticleQUIZ
HERE'S a mixed quiz about dogs --some true-and-false, some selective questions-- so that it will be fair to the disciples of both types of quiz. Check-mark your choices, then turn to page 77 to see how much you really know about dogs and dog care. Score 10 for each correct answer.
Read ArticleAsk Me Another!
Q Under two of my windows are radiators. Is it all right to hang long draperies at the other windows and short ones at these?
Read ArticleThe Wedding March on Nature's Trails
IN THE springtime, wild-folk fancies lightly turn to thoughts of love-- altho the other seasons, too, have their share of bridal couples.
Read ArticleTHE MAN NEXT DOOR
Well, here comes April, that deceptive something in the air which makes a man think he can jump a four-foot fence, to impress the wife, only to end up vaulting it awkwardly.
Read ArticleKitchen Curtains
APRIL sunshine and blithe new curtains at the kitchen windows art perfect running mates! And this year --make your own. They're fun, and worlds more individual. Here art eight of our favorites-- schemed for kitchen or breakfast-room windows, but many of them just as clever for bedrooms and sunrooms.
Read ArticleDAD'S Practical Pointers
One method of temporarily fixing damaged spots in the linoleum you are not quite ready to throw away: Sand out the hole, then fill with melted sealing wax of the right color. Smooth off with a table knife before it hardens.--
Read ArticlePOPPIES MAKE THE DESERT BLOOM
WE THINK of the desert land in Arizona as a barren expanse: dry, hot, colorless. And so it is, in places.
Read ArticleWe Live Outdoors and Love It
IN MAY we wake in our gardenhouse to bird songs and to the fragrance of apple blossoms almost by our bed; and late in the fall we linger there, with the shutters drawn and a thick steak sizzling over red coals. We eat, sleep, and play in this gardenhouse that we ourselves built only a few steps from our own kitchen door.
Read ArticleBurning Bush
YOU may call it fraxinella, dittany, or some other name handed down from Grandmother's time. But most people still refer to Dictamnus albus as the gasplant, or burningbush. Around these last two names has centered much friendly controversy. Does the plant actually give off gas? And does this gas burn?
Read ArticleAll Pulled Up
AND no wonder! If you'd consumed the eggs this month's prizewinners can boast, you'd puff too-- and probably pop! For running mates in the Cooks' Contest announced last October are Angel and Sponge Cakes and Spring Lamb Dishes.
Read ArticleWhims & Hobbies
The city of Orlando, Florida, has a hobby. It's waterfowl. Besides swans, ducks, and herons, which are permanent residents, hundreds of wild duck and seagull winter guests are fed daily. At 4 p. m. the park policeman blows on his whistle a shrill blast which brings the ducks scrambling for corn.
Read ArticleHere's an Idea!
GORGEOUS things, these slick modern bathrooms, but you can't always turn an old gray mare into a fast-stepping filly just by wishing. It's all very well to read about roomy bathrooms, glamorous with glowing colors, glittering mirrors,7 and modern fixtures.
Read ArticleForsythias SPROUT SUDDEN BEAUTY
WHAT more definitely proclaims the end of flowerless winter than the quickened, sudden beauty of the flowering forsythias, or goldenbells?
Read ArticleVictoria
THE victoria, or Royal Waterlily, has the largest leaf of all waterlilies in the world. It's a South American aquatic which has captured our imagination by its remarkable performance. Its huge, round, floating leaves have been known to bear a weight of 150 to 200 pounds.
Read ArticleNames of Materials
Co-operating With Better Homes & Gardens: Following are manufacturers' names of materials shown on pages 23 and 24. These materials are available at department and furniture stores across the country.
Read ArticleInsurance Trust?
A PHYSICIAN I know has never made a will; never expects to. "Why should I?" he asks. "Every financial contingency I've ever wanted to anticipate could be met perfectly with different kinds of insurance and settlement provisions. An insurance contract is a will as well as insurance." True enough!
Read ArticleWhere Should I Plant That Tree?
NOBODY pays much attention to a little brook winding thru a treeless meadow; it's just another drainage ditch. But send this brook meandering down thru some trees, let them intertwine their branches above it, and shoot piercing shafts of sunlight into shaded pools where creamy cows stand switching flies and cooling their hot bulk, and hundreds come to stand in mute wonderment at the beauty they see.
Read ArticleAlong the Garden Path
POWDERED ZINC OXIDE dusted lightly on the surface of the soil helps prevent damping-off of columbines and other pesky seedbed actors. But it's definitely harmful to zinnias, ageratum, chrysanthemums, and gaillardias.-- Lulu Egan Quinlan, Okla.
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