February 1946

When We Build a Home

WE SOMETIMES think of time as an enemy who always wins his battles; but he can be an ally, too. Growth and maturity-- the creation of any permanent form of beauty-- are possible only thru the unhurried processes of time, which give to deliberate and considered efforts a value which is rarely found in the products of haste. Nature sets her own rhythmic pace in the growth of a tree, adding each year a little ring to its girth, and putting forth each spring new shoots and branches until, in the fullness of time, the beauty of maturity is attained.

Kills Dandelions--Doesn't Hurt Grass!

AT LAST painless lawn weeding is a fact. Last year, when I reported my experience with the new hormone weed killers, I could not recommend them for killing lawn weeds without killing grass because my experience did not cover enough cases to justify a general statement.

Salvage Lumber and Save

THE community without abundant sources of salvage lumber is rare indeed. And the price, if you wreck it yourself, is nominal, for the labor cost in dismantling a frame structure is roughly equivalent to the value of the material salvaged.

Electric Hotbeds Again Available

ELECTRIC heating cable for hotbeds is again available, altho in limited quantities. Eighteen square feet of hotbed can produce sturdy vegetable plants to stock a garden for a family of four, enough flower plants to supply cut blossoms from June to frost-- and at a daily cost equivalent to half the price of a package of cigarettes.

Salvage That Bungalow

Furniture Arrangement

Try This One for Size

Wood Lends Its Tradition to Modern

9 New Roses Ways to Grow Them

New for Gardens

The Sun Was the Architect

If Your House Is Always Underfoot

"THIS house! You'd think a cyclone had hit it!" Chances are, that explosion has a familiar ring.

How to Get Along With Those You Love

THE years can do things to a marriage. After 18 years, my wife and I hadn't stopped loving each other, but we were mired deep in years of routine. We went to an occasional show, after we'd planned for someone to watch over the children. We shopped for a new chair, after checkingthe bank balance.

Judge These 1946 Washer Plusses by What They Will Do for You

These are the features by which the modern washer cooperates to make the job easier. Different washers offer them in different combinations. Check which you'll find most desirable.

Here Are the 1946 Washers and Dryers

ONCE more, praise be, the question is no longer, "Can I buy a washer?" but, "Which washer shall I buy? And what's all this about clothes dryers? Is that for me?"

What About Obedience?

HOW do I get my child to obey? What do I do when he disobeys? These are questions most parents begin to run into about the time a child starts to acquire powers of locomotion.

Serve It With a Flair

ENTERTAINING takes on new thrills when you add a simple touch of table glamour. Your friends will exclaim in appreciation. Your family will be proud. You'll find yourself anticipating an opportunity to entertain.

Six Tricks With a Tin Pan

$70 for Your Prize Recipes

LET'S have your best-loved "sweets and sours" for Cooks' Recipe Contest this month-- those Pickles and Relishes, along with Jams and Jellies that add a wonderful homespun touch to even your simplest emergency-shelf meals. There'll be $10 for the winner and $3 apiece for each of the 20 closest contenders when prizes are awarded next August.

Home-Built Rocking Teeter

HERE'S how to beat the rainyday blues when the weather eye you cast out tells you to plan to spend the day indoors and look for something constructive to do with a few hours of your time. This rocking teeter is easy to build and will furnish two kids a plaything that doesn't honk, explode, or otherwise frazzle your nerves.

Along the Garden Path

For an emergency "pipeline" to carry water across porous soil to your vegetable garden, dig a trench about 6 inches deep and lay in strips of newspaper, lapped shingle fashion. This will be serviceable two or three weeks. The newspaper, when wet, will lie snugly against the soil and reduce seepage.

English Cottage Carnations Rate High

LONG stems and large flowers in garden carnations? Yes, carnations which rival in flower size those grown in the greenhouse by the florists can be grown readily in your garden if you choose the still-new English Cottage type.

Kitchen Fix-Ups

ABOUT the time we break out in a rash of spring house cleaning, we also come down with an attack of kitchen-cupboard reorganization. Ever notice it?

It's Home to Our Bicycles

AS LONG as there were just four bicycles in the family, we could find enough room in the garage and basement for storage. But when a fifth bike was added to the collection, it was decided that either the family or the bicycles would have to move out.

This Home Grew Two Alcoves

Young Mothers' Exchange

Since February is a popular party month, with Valentine's Day, Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays, or perhaps your child's own birth anniversary to choose from, we're passing on a suggestion that Mrs. Edward W. Smedley of Haddonfield, New Jersey, recommends to make a young child's party a hit.

Early-American Room With a Modern Air

More Fun at Your Parties

Set folks to work on biographies of each other. Have handy a stack of old magazines-- the more pictures the merrier. Deal out to each a laundry-shirt cardboard, scissors, paste. First comes a secret drawing of names, so no one knows who his biographer is to be. Next, a scramble for magazines.

Lady, You Can Cook, but...

AS A cook, I'm less than an amateur. I cook when I'm hungry and. there's no one else around to do it. On the other hand, I'm something of a professional eater. I've eaten everywhere from Sam's Diner in the Bronx to the Fairmont in San Francisco and in countless homes from one ocean to the other.

Bedrooms to Use the Clock Around

Two Boys and a Hammer

DAD and Mother had talked about fixing over our attic, but had never gone beyond the talking stage.

The Missis Buys Her Own

IN 1944, the women of the United States bought 17 percent more ordinary life insurance than they did in 1943. That raised a new peak in "wife-insurance." It means that, in number of policies, women accounted for one-third of all ordinary life insurance issued. In dollars' worth of protection they bought one-sixth of all ordinary adult insurance.

No Bureau Drawers in This Bedroom

Tailor Your Crops to Your Family

Carrots can't push clods and stones out of the way, so do an extra-gpod job at pulverizing the soil this spring. Work it up fine for at least six inches deep. Plant only varieties recommended for quality.

Quick Rooting for Cuttings

CUTTINGS of your favorite plants can be rooted quickly and easily in a small propagating frame in the house. Rooting is fastest when the sand is kept warm-- and an electric light bulb and a pan of water are all the equipment needed for a heater. Use the propagator in February and March for evergreens or leafless hardwood cuttings of shrubs and in April and May for leafy softwood cuttings or bedding plants.

Hints for the Handy Man

When lawn chairs need re-covering, instead of using ordinary awning canvas, try this cooler and more efficient innovation: From an upholstery supply shop get a roll of webbing. A few rustproof nails, a hammer, the webbing, and in an hour the job is done. No sewing is necessary. A good idea, of course, is to paint the chair while it's stripped. Webbing is stronger, cooler, cheaper, easier to apply, won't collectpuddles or ram-- and is completely modern.-- The Winstons, Bronx, N. Y.

Charm and Cheer From a Dollar's Worth of Flowers

We've a "New House" Every Two Years

OUR old house is always news. There's none of this domestic boredom that comes from gazing at the flower print above the sofa in its same old setting year after year.

Safety Lights

TO LIGHT your way across a darkened room or to lead you to an electrical outlet located in a shadowy corner, a variety of night lights is now available. Some are fluorescent, some phosphorescent, some just plain incandescent; all are small, unobtrusive, and inexpensive. They provide safe, convenient lighting for shin-bumping points like bedposts, corners, and potential accident spots like gloomy stairways.

Redwood Bark in Michigan

"NEARLY indestructible," my friend told me when he presented a 50-pound bag of a new commercial mulching material made of finely shredded redwood bark. For years I had hunted for a mulch which could be expected to last for at least a couple of seasons with a minimum of maintenance.

The Man Next Door

IF you have to try out all the electric fuses to replace the blow out one, you've been married under five years.

Herbs for Fragrance

HERBS add so much to foods that often we overlook their value for potpourri jars and sachets. I grow 80 kinds of herbs, many of them principally that I may have their fragrant leaves and flowers for scenting jars and closets.

Hurry-Ups For the Cleanup

TO CLEAN my Venetian blinds, I slip on old, soft, white gloves. It's easy to clean all the "hard" corners with my fingers. And when the gloves are soiled, into the laundry they go to be washed and kept until next time.-- Mrs. E. A. Lucky, South Gate, Calif.

February Gardening Guide

FEBRUARY brings the stimulus of a reviving gardening interest. It's time now to take stock of your plant and seed situation for the year, to lay the structure and plan the details for summer's dream garden. Not only does it save time next spring but it insures much more balanced and timely results.

This Daisy Is a Dandy

WHAT IS IT? Its scientific name is Dimorphotheca, but it is often listed in garden catalogs as African Daisy, Cape Marigold, or Star of the Veldt. Plants grow six to 12 inches high and are covered with daisy-like little flowers in white and shades of yellow, orange, or salmon. Strictly speaking, the African Daisy is a perennial, but I handle it as an annual.

THE DIARY of a Plain Dirt Gardener

Feb. 1 We had visitors today the chickadees are here. These little critters had a fine meal of sunflower seeds at the box just outside the dining-room window. I don't know where they have been all winter but this is the first time I've seen any. I hope they stay.

The Language of Flowers

ACCORDING to the Florists' Telegraph Delivery Association, here are the messages certain flowers will carry:

It's Easy to Build a Chair

JUST look at this beauty of a chair you can acquire without much more than an adventure with hammer and saw.

When I'm Cleaning

Self-Watered Plants

IF YOUR house plants wilt, you are likely to wish they could tell you when the soil needs water. You can't make plants talk, but you can use a self-watering system which we have developed here at Cornell University. It works on the principle of the oil lamp and uses a wick to lift water

Polish 'Em Up

When did you last check over your garden tools? It's not too late to polish, sharpen, and recondition them now. New tools probably will not be available in quantity until 1947, certainly not before summer.

Home Builders

It's NEWS to Me!

Plastic hanger. Two hangers like this hold a week-end wardrobe. Cleverly placed hooks and bars take care of suit coat, skirt (or trousers), slip, and bell all at once. Just what the well-filled closet needs. Smooth plastic prevents snags, proper curve of hanger prevents garments from slipping floorward. Pastel blue or green in stores or ppd., 75c. Plaut & Lederman, 1490 Merchandise Mart, Chicago 54, 111.