January 1946

The Future--Gloomy or Glorious?

PIERRE LAVAL, an intelligent and logical Frenchman, could estimate a situation and act in accordance with the facts, without emotional bias or sacrifice to principle. After Dunkirk, he forsook France for the obvious victor, Germany.

The Diary of a Plain Dirt Gardener

Jan. 1 My message is different from what it has been the past three years in one respect. We can now relax and take things easier this year. But the old world is still in a sorta parlous state and so many millions still hungry here and there. So we'll just keep right on gardening for another year just about as we have been.

FOR THAT Home-Grown Flavor

IF YOUR lot is small, you still can find room for a cherry tree or two, some grapevines, plums, or berries. Even apple and pear trees now come in sizes for city gardens-- no bigger than lilac bushes.

Let's See How It Works With Cape Cod

WITHIN the salty Cape Cod charm of the first in our new series of Better Homes & Gardens * Homes, hard-headed New England practicality insisted that every square inch of space carry its full load of day-to-day family living.

Now Let's Plan the Neighborhood

THE need for planned neighborhoods, and for the more complete way of life they offer, has long been recognized by progressive planning authorities. Now, as a tremendous pent-up demand for new housing is released, American families have an opportunity to realize that dream.

New for Gardens

PROSPECTS were never brighter than now for the men and women who garden. Not only will we benefit from chemical discoveries made during the war, but we'll have back again things like pyrethrum and rotenone that have been exceedingly scarce. Favorite items in tools-- steel-shank trowels, bow-back rakes, rubber-tired lawn mowers-- will be made again.

10 Little Tables and How to Use Them

We Built Our Home on a Shoestring

IT WAS a stormy midnight. Our "new" home, still only a rough two-story garage was mounted on jacks, ready to be moved to the new foundation. Suddenly the building seemed to rock.

Curtains, Draperies, and

They Built Their Home Around a Garden

THE Wesley Sykes of Bel-Air, California, like flowers. They like them growing informally under their windows, around the trees, and in pots. They like a procession of blossoms framing their home as they look from any and every window. Not only do they want to see their garden from the inside of the house, but they want the same flowering gaiety carried out in their interior decoration.

Small Trees Won't Crowd You

YOU can have trees on your small lot. Most of us feel the need for at least one tree --to lift interest from the lawn level and make the sky a part of our outdoor living areas. Even so, homeowners feel that elms, oaks, maples-- the usual trees found in more spacious gardens-- destroy the house-lot proportion so carefully planned by architects.

More Ideas for Little Kitchens

IF A kitchen is not enough; if, no matter how small the space, you want to eat there, too, and how on earth are you going to do it?-- then you'll want to borrow ideas from this little room in which both kitchen and dining alcove fit snugly but amicably together.

American Children

OUR children have been so fortunate! Unlike those of blasted nations in Europe and the Pacific, they haven't had to spend tortuous nights in congested air-raid shelters or flee from on-rushing tank columns.

Summer Rugs With That Frosted Look

COOL as a snowdrift, and with a snowdrift's clean-cut shadow patterns are these delectable, crocheted summer rugs. Make them in pastels to cool a bathroom or bedroom color scheme, or in snowy-white to add a welcome frosty touch in any room in the house.

A Boy's-Eye View of Home

THE way I figure it, there are two kinds of homes for kids to grow up in: the comfortable kind and the fussy kind. I'm lucky, I guess. I live in the comfortable kind. It's funny tho, my best friend-- I'll call him Fred, which isn't his name-- lives in the fussy kind.

These Good Cooks Were Winners in Stew and Winter Dessert Contest

Cook for Cash!

HERE'S your chance to cash in on that tantalizing Salad Dressing with your own private zing to it, or that delectable Peach Dessert your family, friends, and relatives grow ecstatic over every time it's served. These two-- Salad Dressings and Peach Desserts-- are your targets in our Cooks' Recipe Contest this month. Write your recipe according to the simple rules that follow.

Education in an Envelope

EXCITING news comes from the Institute of Life Insurance. During the war years of 1942-'44, the amount of insurance bought on the lives of youngsters under age 15 increased 80 percent. In 1944, parents bought $850,000,000 of such insurance, altho in 1938 they took only $70,000,000 worth.

What You Spare, They Wear

In the bomb-gutted, ruin-strewn lands in Europe and Asia, when someone dies, a line quickly forms. The people come not to sympathize or mourn, but to beg or buy the clothing of the dead.

R for Floor Ailments

SQUEAKS, ridges, broken boards, hollows-- what are your floor problems? Many floor ailments can be treated successfully by the handy man, tho floor repair can be an exacting task if it becomes necessary to straighten sagging beams.

Early American, Uncluttered

Use Your Leftover Christmas Greens

Protection Found for Azaleas

AZALEA petal blight can ruin, within 24 hours, all azalea flowers it reaches. Now, thanks to two new sprays, you can save more than 90 percent of your flowers.

January Gardening Guide

JANUARY is the time to plan your program for the year. You may like the idea of some cut flowers in rows in the vegetable-garden area. Then you can leave all of the flowers in the border just for show. By planning ahead, you can often get both vegetables and flowers from the same row by succession cropping. And by planning you can keep vigorous annuals coming along thru the season to fill vacant spots as they occur.

How Good a Neighbor Are You?

THERE has never been a better time for checking up on ourselves. Are we doing our part? Do we deserve the home, the community, the country we live in? Are we good neighbors? This quiz doesn't cover the whole field of good neighborliness and good citizenship, but it is a quick and painless means of checking up.

Hints for the Handy Man

Over-the-Garage Trophy Shack

"THIS is just one too many," declared Mrs. Paul Evans recently, when she opened her clothes closet to find a wildcat leering down at her from the hat shelf.

Young Mothers' Exchange

FROM my mail, I gather that many of you are now having second babies-- even third, fourth, or fifth! In one of those delightful letters I like to share with you, E. L. M., of Newark, Ohio, puts into words what I imagine many of you must be feeling.

It's NEWS to Me!

Canister set and cutting board make a kitchen merry with their lively red, white, and blue hand-painted decorations. This is a new Peter Hunt design created especially for kitchen accessories. Hearts and bowknots on canister set make it a clever bridal-shower gift. Set has 4 ample jars, 2-lb. size labeled Flour; 3-lb., Sugar; 1-lb., Tea; and 1-lb., Coffee.