May 1948

Window seats save space

A study in small space

Dining tables that do things

Garden clinic

DO SHORT-CUTTERS still snort across your new lawn, oblivious to signs you put up to "Keep off the grass!"? Better try a little psychology on them. Experience has shown a wisecrack turneth away wayward feet.

What you should know about daffodils

THE first thing you should know about daffodils is that it's smart to choose the ones you want while they're still in bloom-- now. If you miss the boat this spring, your best bet is to read carefully the descriptions in next fall's seed and nursery catalogs.

"What do I need to arrange flowers?"

MANY of you have written asking what tools you need to make flower arrangements at home. Here we have compiled a brief guide to help you --how to buy the best equipment in the order that you'll need it.

China cupboards

Should you stop that fight?

ONE afternoon, my neighbor, Fred, and I wandered into the park to watch his son, Joey, play ball. The fight started when Joey was called out at first-- it was close-- and he had exchanged insults with the first baseman.

How to grow lovelier lilacs

1. ORDER lilacs guaranteed to be on their own roots or grafted on privet understock. Query your dealer on this point before you place your order.

Is everything RIGHT with four youngster?

CAN children-- yours and mine, and the kids across the street, not just subnormal offspring of subnormal families-- have mental breakdowns?

Flowers give your home a friendly face

Splash it with color

NEVER, it seems safe to say, have you had such license to cut loose with a paintbrush as you do this year when you're painting outdoor furniture. Everywhere I go I see even the solidest of citizens doing it. It's expected of you. Scarlet, beige, black, lime yellow, Prussian blue, parlor pink, cabbage-worm green-- the zanier the better. The pleasing thing about it is that out on the terrace or in the garden it looks right gay and nice.

Home for an active family

Dwarf fruit trees

For you who want to grow more in less space, dwarf fruit trees, apples and pears that are hardy and dependable performers, are big news.

How to plant for double returns

Yon can do it . . . the Neals did

Color schemes for your kitchen

THE kitchen is your domain-- here's the place to stick out your chin, square your shoulders, and go all out with colors that really do something for you.

Here's how to grow The Big Three

IF YOU want masses of bloom, but your time for garden work is limited to weekends and evenings, give peonies, iris, and daylilies top billing and major space in your beds and borders.

Your garden can be a Fun spot for the whole family

HOW would you like to fit this back yard onto your home? It would make your simplest outdoor meal a big event, and provide holidays at home all thru your outdoor seasons.

. . . shows how on a 50-foot lot you can have a wall of glass, a terrace, outdoor living, and privacy

CAN you build a house on a 50-foot lot--and still have a wall of glass in your living room, with a terrace beyond for outdoor living? You can, and without sacrificing privacy. Better Homes & Gardens Five Star Home No. 1805 proves that. But it takes skillful planning to escape from the world in such cramped quarters.

You can ... new furniture with old

Here's how to mix furniture smoothly

Grow these for quick color

WHEN you want lots of color quickly, flowers to cut by the armful, and bloom all summer, you want annuals. For earliest possible bloom, sow seed indoors, then transplant-- or buy started plants in May. But you'll still get plenty of flowers if you wait till the danger of frost is past and sow the seed of quick-growing varieties where you want the plants to grow outdoors.

Cooks' Round Table of Endorsed Recipes

Do you make the most of your sandwich grill?

New twists for your dough

Peacock, with stuffing

How your baby learns to think

DOES your baby think? Probably not-- in the sense that an older child or adult does. But, at the same time he's developing nerve and muscle coordination, he is learning how to think.

FOOD NEWS

Oatmeal cooky mix joins the packaged mixes. Stir in some water and bake-- that's all!

Kitchens wanted!

We're sorry

Do you plan to move?

How to take care of your sandwich grill

how-to helps

This summer, every day is vacation day-- and your own back yard is your children's playground.

The house on the cover

How to silence squeaky floors

HAVE you ever tried to come home quietly late at night, and had a floor board or a squeaky stair announce your presence? Is there a spot in your house where your children like to walk because they enjoy hearing that funny noise?

How to order nails

You don't have to wash your dog!

WHAT circumstances have caused dogs to become the object of incessant bathing, we don't know. Canaries, pigeons, cows, horses, pigs, and cats aren't washed with anything even approaching the frequency of dogs.

Do You Know?

Kitchen "cold"? Warm it up with wallpaper

$70 for recipes

SEVENTY dollars is waiting for your winter salads and nut recipes. Twenty-one cooks can ... First prize is $10. The 20 other prizes are $3 each. Easy earnings for just writing down a recipe favorite and mailing it in. So enter the contest today.

You can too garden on hard ground

IS THE ground in your back yard so hard that you've given up the idea of ever having a garden?

The handy man

Silver in a jumble in a drawer? Build compartments. Vary the length of spacers as sketched above to take care of teaspoons (shortest), tablespoons, forks, knives, and icedtea spoons (longest). At the back you can put little-used items such as a gravy ladle or butter knife.

Living space: twice what you'd think

TO BUILD a house today costs you about $12 a square foot. With prices at that level, you can't waste space.

Radishes and onions for the relish tray

Use your entry hall

Five problem spots

Grow beans this way for big returns

Foolproof your Limas

How to take care of your rugs

BABYING your rug-- whether it's a brand-new carpet or a faithful Oriental--will pay dividends in years of beauty and wear. The key to longer rug service is to set a regular cleaning schedule and to follow the schedule faithfully.

Spring-clean your heating plant, too

COMES spring, and your fancy lightly turns to thoughts of lawns and gardens. Winter is over at last. But if your furnace or boiler doesn't get a good cleaning before rust gets in its licks, you'll pay for your neglect next winter with inefficient and costly heating.

Your dormer room upstairs hideaway

If yon have to see Paris-try Quebec!

AMONG people who would never board a train unless they had their skis along, the Laurentian playground north of Montreal is considered the snow country. But for a real family vacation in an ideal summer climate, the time to visit Quebec is in June and the following summer months.

What are you getting into?

THE only sure way to pick a room for the night says one expert, is to get into it, examine the corners for yourself, and personally thump the mattress.

How to make a burglar lose a weekend

Why don't you build a Barbecue?

MAY GARDEN GUIDE

MAY brings a chance to enjoy the beauty of your 1948 garden as it takes shape. There's still time to get started, tho, if yours is still but a dream garden. By the end of the month there'll be little danger of killing frost, even in the northern states. Zinnias, marigolds, annual dahlias, and tuberous begonias are among the most sensitive to frost, so keep them indoors the longest.

When DDT will do the job

NEW insect killers are reaching the market so fast you may feel you need an expert's advice for each bug problem. But all you really need to remember is this:

Cucumbers, melons, squash

The diary of a Plain dirt gardener

May 1 Up to this minute, this has been a discouraging spring. I'm further behind in my work than I can remember, seems like. I did get some roses planted and sweet-pea seeds in and some early vegetables, but other jobs seem few and far between.

How to grow Better tomatoes

How to make the most of your tulips

IF TULIPS shout spring more clearly for you than daffodils and hyacinths do, it's probably because their color range is so complete. Their bright cups seem always to have associated with violets, apple-blossoms, and warm spring winds, and have stood in prim lines next to lawns freshly green.

THE MAN NEXT DOOR

One of the bravest, sweetest sounds in all the biological kingdom is the sound of a wife making her voice musical to wake up a husband who has overslept 20 minutes.