February 1943

THE Color OF THE FUTURE

WE PEOPLE are curious compounds of what we are and what we know. We hear stories, now and then, of children nurtured by beasts --creatures denied human instruction and thus limited in personality to their inherited essence of humanity-- that unique and mysterious difference that isolates us in loneliness from the rest of creation thru an unshared ability to wonder, to think, and to see order and beauty in the universe.

I Make Scrap-bag Lamp Shades

Fun Without Money

YOU can have fun without money-- yes, right in your own living- room, dining-room, and all over your home. Along the Atlantic Coast, where practice blackouts and gasoline rationing are old stories, we're playing home games-- including the kind that don't cost a penny-- more than we have since the gaudy nineties.

Mostly With Their Own Clever Hands

"LET'S turn this old job in on a new model-- say a Pennsylvania farmhouse, with everything about it authentic down to the last wood peg," said Fred Fredericks to his wife Diane one evening as they mulled thru a home magazine, admiring other people's dream houses.

What If Uncle Sam Calls YOU?

Well, Joe's hale and hearty and well under 38 and there's a little white card in his pocket. It seemed pretty remote and inconsequential when it was first handed him, but for some time now it's been an insistent daily reminder that before this war is won he may be inducted into the armed forces of the United States.

See What Roses Can Do

WHAT'S new in roses? And what can they do for me? You're a most extraordinary person if those thoughts aren't in your mind, too, when you turn thru the new catalogs this spring.

Pennsylvania Dutch Comes Up to Date

WHEN Louis and Viola Engel found it, this lovable home was a neglected little Pennsylvania Dutch stone house in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. After 150 years of robust existence, it "showed its age."

Your New House Is on the Way

IN TOLEDO they tell you the story of the drinking glass and the St. Louis advertising man. It has to do with these tough new kinds of glass you'll find in your next house. Some of them are as strong as steel, some stop the sun from fading your rugs and draperies, some won't frost over in windows even if it's 75 below zero outside. A drinking glass made up from one of them got into the hands of this St. Louis man. Before amazed associates, he casually pushed it off his desk, bounced it off the wall, tossed it down the hall.

Take Care of Your Plumbing

TIME was when you never knew your home had any plumbing-- unless something went wrong. Then you called the plumber and he expertly juggled pipes or installed a new thingamajig and everything was right again.

STRETCH Your Vegetable Garden

"THOSE who don't work don't eat!" That necessarily was the American way in Colonial times.

How to Restore Old Furniture

Dress Your Baby the Easy Way

GONE but not lamented are those yard-long dresses in which our fathers and mothers used to be swathed when they were too little to protect themselves.

Quilt TODAY

LAST month you brushed up on pieced quilts and quilting, tasted the fascination of the work itself and the joy of owning a quilted beauty made by your own hands. And now here comes the sequel-- how to do that handsome trapunto or stuffed quilting, and how to make an appliquéd quilt.

MORE ABOUT HOW TO CARE FOR YOUR CLOTHES

It's a Surprise Package

LIFT the lid off lots of promising packages and you're disappointed. But if, when you're in Seattle, Washington, you could lift the roof off the Leonard W. Shortall home, you'd find plenty of pleasing surprises. Look long and hard at these, for the home you build after the war is likely to include some of them.

Best New Varieties FOR '43

Forgotten Doors

SOME doors I've met are orphans, ignored and unhappy. Some are beautiful thru perfection in architectural detail. Others have beauty thrust upon them. Have you ever honestly studied your doors to see what, if anything, you should do about them?

Article

THE MAN NEXT DOOR

Maybe the quickest way to induce a boy to remove the snow from the driveway is to encourage him to toss it away in the form of snowballs.

We'll Buy Bonds for You

TO MAKE it easy and convenient for you to buy War Savings Bonds-- and to save your time, tires, and gasoline-- Better Homes & Gardens has become an official bond-issuing agency of the United States Treasury.

THE DIARY OF A Plain Dirt Gardener

Feb. 1 Snow covers the ground today-- enough to bring the birds in great flocks. And glory be-- the bluejays are back again, after being absent for many days. Trust the snow to bring them. So I waded forth and put out ample supplies of mixed grain and sunflower seeds.

INDOOR GARDENING GUIDE

OUTDOOR GARDENING GUIDE

THIS year, when everyone is going to be busy, we'll want to select plants that are easy to grow and vigorous, relatively disease- and insect-free. They'll need to be very free blooming and, yes, just a little unusual or at least distinctive.

For the MAN of the House

Even the rankest amateur can fill plaster cracks with finesse if he borrows his wife's pastry bag. (The bag can't be used for pastry again, but all will be forgiven when the expert plastering is inspected!)

Grow Coleus From Seed

IF YOU like brilliant foliage plants, I heartily recommend the gorgeous coleus. It's easily grown from seed.

Dad's Practical Pointers

Wax your snow shovel before using it, and you can handle damp snow much more quickly. The wax prevents the snow from sticking when you lift it to the side lines.-- E. S., N. Y.

It's NEWS to Me!