November 1949

Someone in your family may be STARVING!

There's a prevailing idea that Americans, counting you, are the best-fed people in the world. Well, don't bet on it. It's a bad gamble.

Two tables in one

For better living and more gracious entertaining, choose a two-height table. The table stretches space because it uses space economically; the table stretches your budget because it does two jobs.

You, too, can be a storyteller

When your small son or daughter clamors for a story, you don't have to take a back seat to any storyteller on the radio. Not if you're prepared with a story of your own making. Small fry don't expect literary masterpieces. You'll be surprised how easily they're satisfied.

Small-sized chest can do big jobs

Shelves around a door give you Extra storage space

HAVE YOU HEARD?

A new form of 2,4-D tested this summer promises to make this valuable weed killer even more useful by making it safer to use. In the past, it has been impossible to spray close to tomatoes and many other plants because just the fumes from 2,4-D would injure them. The new 2,4-D is a nonvolatile ester which gives off no fumes. This summer I placed cans of it directly under tomato plants without a trace of injury.

Use spring bulbs for winter color

Bulbs, grown indoors, never lose their popularity as house plants. You can have a sunny window filled with spring flowers from January until spring if you plant a good supply of bulbs now.

It's not the SPACE you have--It's how you USE IT

Those are questions more and more of you are asking, as high wages and expensive materials force you to buy or build homes smaller than you like. They are questions that become acute when you try to overcome high building costs by merely adapting a conventional house plan to smaller over-all house dimensions.

Every room works two ways

Every first-floor room of Better Homes & Gardens Five Star Home No. 1911 does at least two jobs. And each of those rooms, except the kitchen, is furnished and planned for 24-hours-a-day use.

Is your wife too Civilized?

In Detroit they tell you strange and interesting things about doctors and psychiatrists and pregnant women there. They tell you about the wife of a famous architect who is going to pack her infant on her back, like an Eskimo, wherever she goes, and swing him around to her breast when he is frightened or hungry.

It's the planning that saves you money

Planning can make or break your house-building budget. Take, for example, the home of Mr. and Mrs. Clinton V. Dean, Jr., in Weston, Massachusetts, who brought me a well-considered list of requirements: a house they could be proud of, a house that would take advantage of the light, air, and roominess of their lot.

Why not use your house plants?

Your house plants will mean a lot more to you if you put them to use. Instead of growing them just as a hobby, take some of your choice plants and use them to decorate your home.

For the Christmas gift she will use and remember

Leaf plate, top left, comes in green or turquoise pottery. It's not only handsome, it's inexpensive. Use it for salads, for desserts, relishes, snacks, or for a whole hot meal. The crowing rooster in the center, and to right, the rooster and the hen, are smart decorators for buffet, mantel, or table. Little and big hens-on-a-nest serve egg dishes at breakfast or lunch. Use the big biddy for a serving dish.

Make your own Christmas cards

When the Christmas mail brings a handmade Christmas card, you know that extra thought and time are behind its message. There's a personal touch to the holiday spirit it carries.

How to live an extra lifetime

In my portrait gallery of retired business and professional men the happiest faces belong to those who quit work well before the usual retirement age of 65. Looking at notables: there's Ben Franklin. Do you realize that even this advocate of diligent labor retired from his printing business at 54 because he simply had to find more time for all his hobbies and avocations?

Dressing-table skirts you'll want to make

Can you run a sewing machine? Can you handstitch a fine seam? Then you can glamorize your bedroom with sewed-at-home dressing-table skirts.

Ideas to make your home more livable

If you're building a new home, if you're remodeling your home, or if you're just collecting tips for that dream house-- get out your scissors.

A safety engineer designs An accident-proof house

When Alfred Lateiner began building his new home last summer, there was one unusual specification in the plans. The house was to be accident-proof. The idea of a home stripped of hazards to safety had long been in his mind.

Clever new aprons simple to make

Try for a prize

Shortcakes and hamburgers are popular warm- weather fare. So we're asking for your favorite shortcake and hamburger recipes to publish in Cooks' Round Table next June.

Good cutlery will trim Your kitchen jobs

Ever try to carve a roast with a dull knife? Cut a big grapefruit in half with a paring knife? Slice bread with a straight-edge knife? Then you know how vexing the wrong cutlery can be.

The trick's a roll mix

In eight hours Yow can sew like an expert

Frankly Fancy Thanksgiving-with all the trimmings

Old-fashioned cranberry sauce in 10 minutes

Hot tips for the gravy bowl

Good gravy's easy to make, say the old hands. No it isn't, say the novices. And the answer really is, it's easy to make if you've had the chance to watch the tricks.

Does your child mind?

Are you satisfied with the way your boy or girl minds? Do you think you're not strict enough? Too strict? So much has been written about the importance of the way you discipline your children that thoughtful parents sometimes don't know what to believe.

Are you style-wise?

Mirrors are magic

Mirrors can increase a room's size, light up a dark corner, or multiply a splash of color. You've probably discovered the charm of small framed mirrors, but have you tried to use mirror architecturally?

Are you style-wise?

More comfort, more heat, less cost

You may be in for a surprise, when you look for a new heating plant for your home. For many people in the heating business are trying to sell less fuel.

Handsome chairs at low cost

Are you looking for a way to get some handsome dining chairs at very low cost? If so, don't overlook the remodeling possibilities of those high-backed, uncomfortable chairs that were sold by the thousands a few decades ago. Beneath that undistinguished appearance you'll usually find solid oak and construction designed to last a couple of lifetimes.

How to sharpen four carving knife

Here's an easy way...

Are you style-wise?

Even in a small home You can find storage where you need it

When we drew the plans for the house my husband and I would build with our own hands, we knew we wouldn't have any wasted space-- we couldn't afford to. We were convinced that by using every inch of space we could solve our storage problems. We tried-- and succeeded.

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Bedroom comfort

New rooms cost less than a new house

We bought our place in Richmond, California, during the war, practically while I was packing my bags to go to sea. It was a typical tract house-- one of about 70 small homes in a rolling district characterized by country quiet and little traffic.

Sectional slipcovers suit an occasional chair

Sectional slipcovers will give your occasional chair a new lease on life. Whether it's a streamlined Modern chair or a curve-lined Victorian chair, the slipcover problems can be solved in the same way. Cut separate covers to fit each section of the upholstery, finish each section separately, then pin or snap it in place. Here's how to make the cording-trimmed sectional covers shown above.

Easier, safer way to hang storm windows

No longer a decorating problem Your piano can steal the scene

A piano can be as attractive as it is musical-- when you decorate the wall behind it and tastefully arrange the furniture around it. Remember, too, that you can use your piano many places, many ways. In the living room, it's a focal point; between living and dining areas, it can be a space divider; in the bedroom, it might create an alcove.

Piano: HANDLE WITH CARE

Your piano is not just a piece of furniture-- it's an extremely sensitive musical instrument, too. So you must treat your piano more carefully than most other household furnishings.

Looking for storage space?

Safe power tools for kids 8 to 80

Small, safe, efficient, economical to buy and operate-- these are the advantages of a wide variety of fractional- horsepower hobby tools

books for every use

Don't let Christmas shopping- list troubles dampen your holiday cheer. Cross out the question marks in your list with books this year. Books for the home make especially practical gifts ... gifts that are both treasured and used the year around.

Vanishing Americans

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After the slow speed at which interior finishing of your home seems to progress, you'll find that remaining work on the exterior goes rapidly. By following the photographs, you can also make sure that work goes right.

See how to get a better home

Perfect mashed potatoes

how-to helps

Hanging Wall Table-- For porch, playroom, dinette, or kitchen, this attractive hanging wall table is a practical spacesaver. Hangs flat against the wall when not in use. You can build it in almost no time at all with Easi-bild pattern No. 3.426. Only 25c.

Dressing-table skirts

You can duplicate any of the dressing-table skirts on page 58 if you follow these step-by-step sketches. Even the fancy and frilly skirts are easy to copy when you cut and stitch them correctly. Fit the skirt as carefully as you would a dress-- so the heading covers the edge of the table top or glass, and the skirt doesn't gap open at the center.

Better service to you

Your dog and mine

Your pup is playful, only wants to show affection. Remember, a dog has to do all the things with his mouth we humans do with our arms and hands. Spank and scold him in the midst of the wrongdoing, not afterward.

Don't make a tough job out of talking

A baby is learning to talk long before he speaks his first real word. He is only minutes old when he discovers he can make a noise. During his first month, he develops two or three different pitches for his voice, corresponding to the various vowel sounds.

Winterize your garden for less work, fewer bare spots, more beauty next spring

The growing season is well past in most sections, but there's still a good bit of gardening to be done. Many of your plants need preparation for the winter, and there's cleanup work, and a number of other light jobs

A lower night setting will save you fuel

How much can you save on your fuel bills by turning the thermostat of your furnace down at night?

NOVEMBER GARDEN GUIDE

Sow seeds of all types of annuals as well as most quick-flowering perennials in south Florida. Sow hardy and half-hardy annuals in Lower South and hardy annuals in Middle and Upper South.

A park comes to life in Amarillo

City parks have a way of running down at the heels if no one bothers to keep them up. That's what happened to Thompson Park in Amarillo, Texas. It would still be down at the heels today if the Amarillo Garden Club hadn't done something about it.

$6,10000 IN PRIZES

Garden clinic

Apples, oranges, grapefruit, and root vegetables such as carrots and parsnips keep plump, crisp, and fresh till May in a draintile pit. Jonathan apples aren't likely to acquire spots when stored in a tile. Cold, crisp, juicy apples taken from the tile in May are delicious.

Growing pains

The diary of a plain dirt gardener

Nov. 1 So busy at the routine chore of earning the family living that it was almost plumb dark when I got home tonight and no chance to do anything outside. So to the basement to potter around.

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Trees planted right satisfaction for life

Planting a tree is as important a job as you'll ever do around your home. You can make mistakes with smaller plants; but if your tree doesn't grow well, you've lost valuable years. And if it's in the wrong place, it can spoil the appearance of your home.

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THE MAN NEXT DOOR

I wondered why Junior didn't complain when I turned out his light in the middle of a story. Now I know that, just as his dad once did, he has learned to keep quiet and read by the light of the bright November moon.