February 1940

ACROSS THE Editor's Desk

HOME, we are told, is where the heart is, as I have remarked before on this page. Instinctively we know that to be true. It's an axiom, as we know certain other truths to be.

IT'S NEWS TO ME!

1 Christine Holbrook likes this 7-inch wallpaper border to enliven plain walls of a tot's room-- at child's eye level or as ceiling strip-- with a bit to trim window cornices and a wastebasket. On white or tinted ground, 15c a lineal yard. No. 6501, Imperial Paper & Color Corp., Glens Falls, N.Y.

THE DIARY of a Plain Dirt Gardener

Feb. 2 This is Farmers' Week on the agricultural side of the state university campus where I am a humble laborer in the field of educating young men and women how to write news stories and magazine articles. Besides going to meetings, I have been gathering up all the literature I can find at the commercial display booths, notably in the horticultural and agricultural engineering buildings.

America Reports On Vitamin B₁

AND this, so help us, is the story of B₁, the vitamin that has produced five-inch rose buds, daffodils bigger than a salad plate, and daylilies with seven-foot flower stems. It's the story of how it works, what it does, and how, in less than a month, it became a biting, kicking new business and gardening's brightest and most discussed aid in years.

WHERE AND HOW TO BUILD YOUR Fence

Best for 1940

WHO can name the best plants for 1940? Not one man, surely. Perhaps not a dozen, nor even two dozen. But two dozen will come a lot closer. They won't carry the regional prejudices of one person.

Highlights of Hickory Lane

"HICKORY LANE... community planning... Colonial houses... alike yet different...." That's the way the description reads.

Here's an Idea!

How Smart Are You?

WE HUMANS are the most inconsistent creatures! Remember how we used to struggle and stew over "exams" back in school, shuddering at the very thought of a question mark? Yet today we gleefully gobble up every radio and magazine "quiz" that comes out, and smack our lips for more. We stop dances for them, break up bridge games, leave the dishes in the sink.

FEBRUARY Indoor Gardening Guide

"EAST, west, north, or south? Which window is best for my houseplants?" Our answer: "It depends on the plant." Prolific-blooming plants are usually sunworshippers and give more satisfaction in a south window.

6 Reasons Why ...

1 MOST comfortably roomy two-story homes look gawkily oversize on the average narrow suburban lot. But this one is peculiarly adapted to these narrow sites in three ways. Its L-shaped plan stretches back instead of across the front. Its roofline is several feet lower than normal for two-story houses.

KITCHEN PLANNING

WHOEVER invented that ingenious device, a Lazy Susan, had the right idea for a kitchen plan. As a mere man I believe the ideal kitchen would be a Lazy Susan on a grand scale. I should like nothing better than to sit in the center of my kitchen and, with a flick of a lever, see the refrigerator, sink, range, or cabinets rotate until I had only to reach and take what I want, then spin the room around to what I need next.

We Parents

One day I took 5-year-old Charley to the store and we bought several No. 2 cans of corn, string beans, and other vegetables he liked, together with an equal number of spinach, asparagus, and peas, which he detested. Arriving home, I had him tear off the wrappers and place the cans on a shelf.

Hamburger Pie

"WHAT'S in it? What's that swell, snappy flavor?" Yes, ladies and gentlemen, you can stump the experts. In fact, Hamburger Pie, $5 first prizewinner in the Contest for Meat Pies and Fruit Salads announced last August, called forth baffled cries from sundry tasters and testers.

House for Sale

YOU don't like your neighbors. The house is too small. The house is too large. Business is taking you to Siberia. Business is taking you to the poor house. For these reasons or for others, you put a price on your home which you never expect to get, and graft a "For Sale" sign to your favorite tree.

Old Age Doesn't Hurt

Article

WE GIVE YOU Brown Stew

WHAT'S the test of a good cook? Opinions differ. Some maintain that a two-inch steak, beautifully scorchy on the surface yet tenderly red and juicy at heart, is all that man can ask of any cook.

Modern Moves Into Colonial

The QUESTION Before the House

I saw a new house with an alcove off the living-room the other day, the first I've seen in years. Are they coming back? If so, I want one.

Save That Fireplace Heat!

GEORGE WASHINGTON fathered our country, but it remained for Benjamin Franklin, that frugal Quaker, to sire the stove and remove the fireplace from its high estate as the world's leading heating unit. Prior to Franklin the fireplace was, at once, the furnace, cook stove, oven, and site for many a hearthside family gathering.

Good News for Unexpected Dollars

ALMOST the same week that Paul D. received an unexpected legacy of $3,000 from an aunt he'd never met, he had two thousanddollar bonds called at 105. So his checking account showed a provocative bulge of $5,100. What should he do with it?

The Man Next Door

Piquant bit of neighborhood gossip: They say that since the young husband in the little modern house around the corner went on a diet, his thoughtful little wife has quit putting starch in his shirt collars.

How to Be a Grafter

WHENEVER I tell about picking Delicious, Jonathan, and Grimes Golden Apples and Bartlett Pears all off one tree, most people become interested and want me to tell them all about it.

Gyppsy Gardeners

As the Fireplace Goes

I'M IN FAVOR of war-- on ugly fireplaces!

Along the Garden Path

WITH A 5-GALLON WATER JAR, some rope, and a round of wood, I made an attractive garden light to hang in my Weeping Willow. I ran an electric cord thru a hole in the center of the wood and bottle bottom and mounted a large light bulb inside.