July 1941

DEFENSE WITH FOOD Is America's New Goal

It will not because a group of calm but resolute men and women in Washington, who recently pooled their knowledge and experience at the National Nutrition Conference for Defense called by the President of the United States, has worked out a definite, hard-headed plan for keeping the American people as well fed, if not better fed, during the present emergency than they have ever been in the past.

Thinking Time

WHAT would you say to a man who told you he makes a good living out of a little old-fashioned flower and vegetable garden in his back yard in a city suburb? I don't blame you. I said exactly the same thing; but when I found he was telling the gospel truth, I apologized. Here's his story, practically in his own words:

The Diary OF A PLAIN DIRT GARDENER

July 3 I'm a thousand miles from home and Maggie and the boys are caring for the garden. I phoned Donald tonight to come out to meet me here in Nebraska to help drive and take pictures. That's what I said. I didn't tell them I was just lonely.

THE MAN NEXT DOOR

To judge from the height of June brides I've seen the last month, this must be the crop which began to absorb vitamins and cod-liver oil in dead earnest, as post-war babies.

She's Headin' for the River

IF YOU want to know why we remodeled, don't ask the neighborhood's small boys-- they'd be too busy ringing our new chime doorbell, and you'd probably miss the point entirely.

7... and your Pools' Finished!

FOR ANY of you people sitting around in the heat looking like the villain in a tropical movie, with a fan and an unmade linen suit and no tie on, I have a pretty good proposition. I have a garden that never needs weeding or hoeing, that thrives best in blazing sun and always looks fresh and cool and just out of a bandbox, that smells nice when the sun goes down, and greets you with a new-blown bloom each morning.

Make Your Own Cabin Furniture

FATHER brought his bride to his homestead in southern Wyoming to live in a sod-roofed cabin. The little house with its rough knotty pine walls must have seemed as primitive as an Indian wickiup to the little Eastern schoolma'am who was to become my mother.

ARE good mothers "UNFAITHFUL" WIVES?

A WOMAN I know has just put her two children in a nursery school for afternoons. Ever since her babies were born-- and even before-- she built her life around them. She was, in fact, a sort of super-mother who refused to let anybody wait on them but herself. Her sudden decision to turn them over to a nursery school struck me as curious. I wanted to know why.

Ship-Shape Shelter for A LANDLUBBER

LAY down your price lists and memo pads, you landlubbers! Close your desk tops and push aside next month's stack of orders. It's time you were getting a dose of home life with a salt tang to it-- at "Microlodge," where a naval architect lives.

10 CURES FOR THAT BLANK LOOK

GIVE vines a chance and they can definitely enhance your home. Their tracery against walls makes soft pictures where there were none before. A vine over the pergola changes it from a mechanical skeleton to a pleasant arbor, a place not only of beauty but for relaxation in the shade, a place to dine out-of-doors on the hot days and enjoy the cool green shelter.

How much Does It Cost You to Live in Your Home?

ONCE there was a family that bought a case of eggs-- cheap-- and then discovered that they were cheap because they were also ancient. So, the story goes, they had to swallow their bad bargain together with costly ingredients to disguise the bad taste. In the end it cost them more than if they'd bought Grade A eggs that could stand on their own merits (and be eaten) alone.

Step by Step With Every Mans' Orchid

It's Easy to Lay a Terrace

ALONG cooling drink on a shaded terrace is what we want this weather. And right now is the time to go to work on that terrace, when the ground is dry. Where will you put it?

Fair and Cooler

James Stewart Specified "No Fussy Business"

JAMES STEWART, this year's winner of the Motion Picture Academy award for the best male performance of 1940, rolled out of bed at the crack of dawn not long ago-- and was off to join the United States Army. Buck Private Stewart left behind him one of Hollywood's pleasantest bachelor homes, and he's going to miss it; for this home of his, now being occupied by his fellow-actor Burgess Meredith, is the materialization of a very special Stewart dream.

It's a Hobo Picnic

Guess it's the hobo in us, this itch to toss food in a basket ... or a car trunk ... or a kerchief ... and go eat it some place else! From tots to granddads, folks love a picnic miles from home or in their own back yards. So here's to easy hoboing-- swell fun for the crowd-- and Mother is relieved of that serving flurry.

They're Choice Chillies

Article

YOU CAN HAVE Both Shade and Bloom

BE GLAD you have shade in your garden-- really glad! Why? Well, just for starters here are seven reasons.

PHOTOGRAPHERS

ALONG THE GARDEN PATH

I USED TO HAVE considerable trouble with borers on my treasured French hybrid lilacs. Last year I dug 2 inches of the soil away from the stems and covered them to a height of 18 inches with a commercial preparation that's sticky like flypaper. I then replaced the soil.

Solid Comfort Out-of-Doors

ALL WOOD AND NOT TOO WIDE

THAT 50-foot lot problem is always rearing its head. No sooner do we come thru with what we think's the perfect solution (witness our "Triumph of the 50-Foot Lot," page 20, March, 1941) than a small voice from somewhere pipes, "Yes, we certainly did like that last design, but it's not quite right for us. We wanted a ..."

'Scuse Us If We Brag

Is Your House a Tramp?

The New COTTONS Are No Sissies

"HOW does your family look so cool and pert, Mrs. Ellis? And what makes your home seem so fresh, crisp, and inviting?" The questions are too sincere to be passed over lightly-- and a compliment too gratifying.

Ask Me Another!

Q Between my living-room and dining-room is an arch. Because of its shape I just can't hang portieres there. How shall I separate the rooms, screening off the dining-room before dinner is served?

It's NEWS to Me!