April 1951

Peace of mind in dianetics?

In such times as these, prescriptions for peace of mind, or peace of soul, or emotional maturity, or freedom from fear find a ready market. Some work. Some do not. No one really knows why-- except that firm belief in any means of escape from worry seemingly helps to make it work, whether that escape be yogurt, canasta, or psychoanalysis.

Grow the kinds that taste the best

A new, fast, low-cost way to build a house

There's nothing wrong with a Picture window on the north

Have you heard the Latest Garden News?

Experiments with leaf feeding of plants seem to indicate that one ounce of phosphorus in a spray applied to leaves does the work of a pound applied to soil.

Garden clinic

Home, sweet home--the hard way

During the past five years, you have heard and read many stories about families who built their own homes. Some of those stories were inspiring; some were incredible; some were funny. The one you're going to read now, ours, is a mixture-- sort of-- of all three.

"Show more oak" Is the Dominant Trend

The house you ordered

It must have no fewer than three bedrooms. It should be Contemporary in design, with a compact plan that will look well on a suburban lot (but fit on a small city lot, too).

What to do with a bank

You can "turn" your house around

If you took the title of this story literally, it would cost you a fortune to fit a badly placed house to its setting. But the method Architect Martin Kermacy of Austin, Texas, used on the Andrew Johnson home in Barrington, Illinois, is much simpler. It doesn't require a hydraulic jack; all it takes is a little internal surgery and a good surgeon.

Rooms that lead a double life

Try these smart ways to Edge your drive and walks

LET THEM DRIVE--OR STAY ALIVE?

This story has been told before. A thousand times before. But this time it has a "twist." Here's the story: A new sedan is tearing down a Midwestern highway in the moonlight.

Bloom by the armful!

I'm at home on Heron Hook

Smart rooms start with smart floors

The floor is one of the first areas in any room that you-- and your guests-- notice. And because floor coverings are a long-term investment, you'll want your choice to be the right one.

Flowers for your occasional tables

Do fou know the slick way to clean?

No sense in letting spring cleaning get you down. Sure, there's a lot to be done. But after all, you have yourself to consider. So how about cleaning the easy way? How to do it? This doesn't mean to skip over corners. It means, rather, to tackle your work in a steady, unruffled way; to plan your jobs ahead.

Dinner's ready! And fast in a pressure pan

Take the strain off the meat budget

CONFESSIONS of good cooks!

The art of making a beautiful omelet

Smart stowaways save food and money

WARNING-Wrecking crew at work!

The manager of a neighborhood theater was jolted out of his usual office routine one Saturday afternoon by an emergency call from the projection room.

Here's a room to be lived in

Partial walls

Rover's Roost

Your child can be helped to the right job

What will become of your youngster when he steps out on his own in the adult world? If you could read his mind now, you would find it cluttered with flaming ambitions-- coupled with indecision. Like most parents, you want him to enjoy a better life than you have known.

It's time for a chimney checkup

The chair that stays young

Send for a Good-driving Agreement

Stores featuring floor, room ideas

Stores listed below are featuring dual-purpose rooms and smart floor-covering ideas as shown on pages 62-63 and pages 72-73. These department stores do not necessarily stock all the merchandise pictured but will suggest substitutes that fit harmoniously into your color scheme.

Compact writing and sewing centers

Don't give your kids the run-around

Children are born trusting. When something happens to destroy their trust, trouble appears. If you don't take time or can't summon the courage to be honest with your children, they may turn into anxious, aggressive youngsters who are themselves deceitful and unrealistic in their attitudes.

Here's how to Live in an unfinished house

We have a "new" house on the same old lot

Ways to use half-tables

Garden clinic

Garden clinic

Garden clinic

Who's going to get it after you're gone?

What would happen to your family if you died tonight? Would all your assets be available to your wife and children? Or, for lack of a will, would your widow get, say, only one-third of your estate, while the remaining two-thirds were locked up for your youngsters until they become adults?

Muscle tone-up for new mothers

Here are exercises that are specially recommended if you've just had a baby. But they aren't intended for new mothers only. Anyone can do them. They'll help to strengthen your abdominal wall and your back and chest muscles. In addition, they relieve tension and fatigue, stimulate blood circulation, and aid in developing good posture.

Something brand-new in vine supports

Are stains disfiguring your house?

Are you as careful about removing stains that appear on walls and floors and built-in fixtures of your house as you are about keeping your clothes spotless?

How to group your pictures

Put your children's voices on a record

You take snapshots of your children from time to time for their photo scrapbook; why not make a "talking scrapbook" of their voices throughout the years?

Grow the kinds that taste the best

The best side trip we ever took

Help your guest feel at home

Be ready for overnight guests-- whether they come for one night or a whole week. With a little planning ahead, you can be relaxed when they arrive and avoid the last-minute haste of gathering up the things they'll need during their stay.

Basement room for a boy and his hobbies

You can assemble this Early American chair

Will four house be invaded?

Wood-boring insects attack homes for only one reason: They're hungry. The surest way to invite them to dinner is to let them get at the food. Just as you don't leave food out where it attracts mice and flies, keep the lumber in your house preserved against attack.

Your pet and mine

Just about everybody who starts out to buy a puppy will usually announce "I want a good watchdog" the minute he steps into a pet shop or kennel. People who write "Your Pet and Mine" for advice on buying the right breed will invariably wind up their letters with the sentence, "Of course, I want a good watchdog!"

Furniture arrangement for problem rooms

A house should never look remodeled

Know where you stand with your sitter!

The teen-agers in your neighborhood are probably fine youngsters, but it might be a mistake to hire one of them to sit with your children. Luckily, a good sitter possesses characteristics which can be easily discovered.

Three ways to Dress up your dormer window

Good from any point of view

YOGURT

What is yogurt? It's nutritious milk transformed to "yogurt" by adding a special culture. It's smooth as custard, mildly tart, fresh tasting. You eat it with a spoon. "De-licious," say yogurt fanciers. And the number of yogurt fanciers is growing fast, because yogurt, they say, is giving them new pep and vitality. It's the "new edition of nature's most perfect food."

Ban clutter from your workshop

There are as many ways of keeping a home workshop neat and orderly as there are men who own them. The secret lies not in costly accessories, but in a sort of inventive know-how with nails, screws, cup hooks, wood strips, and any other handy material.

When you can't seem to get things done

It bothered Jim Porter because he kept postponing odd jobs that he used to tackle with gusto and dispatch. The storm windows didn't get painted and put away last year. The porch floor needed painting. The garden got pretty well taken over by weeds.

Family time in Florida

How-to Helps

Comfortable televiewing in a small room

Now it's a busy study for two

Cheerful comfort from odds and ends

Ways to plant a porch or terrace

The diary of a plain dirt gardener

April 1 What a day-- it was dark and chilly and windy, with a hard rain for a while in the morning. Then in the mail was another bundle of six new roses from another firm. I had just finished setting out 15 last evening. Maggie brought them in and put them down in the back hall.

April Garden Guide

Broadcast a balanced plant food in shrub beds; use 4 pounds for each 10x10-foot area. Spread one handful for a specimen shrub that's about knee high; two handfuls if it's waist high.

Groundcovers "green up" impossible places

Have you considered what groundcovers can do to imimprove the looks of "difficult" places around your home? Dependable, inexpensive, and easily maintained, they offer a choice of attractive substitutes for grass under shrubs and in hard-to-mow corners.

Books for your home

Well-dressed Windows-- give your house a sprightly new air this spring! Re-dress your windows to let the sunshine come in and give a lively look to every room! For the newest window ideas in smarter-looking homes, get this 25c booklet.

Here are tricks in laying bricks

The MAN NEXT DOOR

On April first, I always kick at hats and snatch at shabby wallets on the sidewalk. Having been a tireless Aprilfooler of adults when a boy, I deem it my grown-up duty to be as cooperative as they were.