May 1951

"Stop and go" lights for plants?

Right now-- with an extension cord and a few properly placed light bulbs turned on for an hour or so in the middle of the night-- you can cause or hold back bloom of some of your flowers and control growth of other plants, inside or out in your garden.

Be a well-armed paper hanger

art, to be done only by a professional. Of course you can hang wallpaper. Even among people who do a lot of work around the house, there's a feeling that paper hanging is a mysterious

Desks--tailored to fit

What's wrong with this family?

$11 outdoor fireplace

Give your plants a lift

Have you heard the Latest Garden News?

A really effective poison-ivy remedy is on the way. Called TAM, it is based on zirconium carbonate, and is the result of an exhaustive search for a chemical that will affect urushiol, the poisonous part of the oil from poison ivy that does the damage.

HOW-TO for the handyman

"Give me a house I can hide in!"

When you find fault these days with modern houses, you run the risk of being relegated to the cupola and gingerbread period. But modern houses, with all their undeniable virtues, seem to have been planned for extroverts. I want to make a plaintive plea for the rest of us who have become so unfashionable.

Family-tested kitchens

Kitchens were never so beautiful, so much fun as they are today. For awhile there, they were all prim and proper. But now they can win a beauty contest from any room in the house.

Premium quality at a bargain price

Thirty feet square. Build a house this size, and in theory you could have four rooms a little over 14 feet square.

Fabulous color--and easy to get

You can go as far as you like in spreading color around if you grow peonies and iris. New colors, new shapes, and much larger flowers make news-- and big news-- of these old reliables.

Fresh cotton from floor to ceiling

Every fabric in these rooms is made of cotton. You'll recognize it immediately in the ruffled curtains and chintz slipcover. And you know that it's washable, and long-wearing-- a cool choice for summer, and a practical choice for any time.

The two-story house makes a good family house

If you need four bedrooms, build one at ground level and three upstairs, especially on a small lot. In the house Architect Whitney K. Ormsby designed for Philip Fox of Milwaukee, the stairway bisects the house, and all rooms can be reached from the entrance hall.

10 days that do things for you

We got out of the car quietly so we wouldn't scare her. The deer, a soft, gentle-eyed doe, raised her head. She saw us and began a slow approach to where we stood beside the road. Our boy and girl held their breath as their dad's camera clicked away. Closer, closer, until within arm's reach, the doe advanced, then paused, ran her tongue up over her nose, and, calmly raising her head, slurped the full length of her tongue over the camera's lens.

Wallpaper can work wonders in your home

Patterned wallpaper is the springboard of your room's color scheme. If you're lucky enough to be able to start from scratch, choose a wallpaper pattern with colors you'll want to repeat again and again in upholstery, draperies, and floor covering.

Why not a split-level plan?

"We live all around the house"

Flowering branches show off spring

Let these do your job

Doors of kitchen cabinets open at the touch of your finger; automatic ironers go with the touch of your toe. The new kitchen equipment is making work lighter, lets you do your job the easy way.

Make money with your recipe

A. brand-new contest opens with $70 in the jack pot. You can qualify with your Holiday Candy and Cranberry Recipes. If the judges vote your recipe best, you'll be chosen Cook-of-the-Month next December and receive $10. Honor Roll mention and $3 go to each of the 20 other winners.

When yon use garlic

There are four ways you can add a gentle touch of garlic seasoning-- with garlic clove, garlic salt, powder, or the new liquid garlic.

Hang your hobbies on the wall

Nobody likes a young smart aleck

Does your child chatter so much when visitors come that you can't get a word in edgewise? Does he "act up" at school to such an extent that his grades suffer?

Look before you remodel

America has millions of old houses that could stand remodeling-- but you'd break your back, your heart, and your bank account if you tried it with some of them. With others, though, you can get more than a dollar's return, in good living and in pride of accomplishment, for every dollar spent.

Make music fun instead of a struggle

Why give your children music lessons? To teach them to play? To make professionals of them? Because all the other neighborhood children are taking? Because you want them to enjoy music when they grow up? Because you are anxious for them to perform in recitals, over the radio, on television?

Garden clinic

What are you going to tell a youngster?

A famous radio performer, a dauntless guest on many a "Stump the Experts"-type of program, was asked what were the most difficult questions he was ever called on to answer. He replied: "The little, simple ones my kids ask me!" Like most parents, he felt that his children were virtually backing him against the wall every time they came up with a vital question.

Wise up on wood

People get a lot of wrong ideas about wood. Does wood decay with age?

Make your own dressing-table skirt

If you can run a sewing machine, you can make a dressing-table skirt. There's no difficult fitting, no intricate seams. What's important is the measuring-- and we tell you exactly how to do that.

A lot of privacy--and every inch used

The Hilding Anderson family of Seattle wanted an easyto-take-care-of, basementless, three-bedroom house on their pint-sized (7,200 square feet) lot. They have it.

Pattern gives a small room style

You can't afford cheap furniture

For you, furniture is a long-time investment. You can't wink your eye at quality or design if you want furniture you'll always be proud of. You know it's lasting satisfaction-- and not the first cost you pay-- that really counts.

Storage space

You can make yours a more workable workbench

Your pet and mine

Most puppy owners shrink from the idea of training. They have an idea that only professional dog trainers are up on the methods and "magic" it takes to teach a dog.

Why keep useless windows?

Meat is money-take care of it

You hustle home with your wisely chosen packages of meats. Of course you planned your meals and were well armed with a shopping list when you arrived at the meat case. The meatman helped you select the right cuts. You're not through yet-- if you're a dollar-stretching shopper. Not until you get the meat out of its market paper and into the refrigerator, as shown below.

Know your building terms

How to get the most from your vegetable garden

Sun, soil, and where you plant it can make or break your garden. Vegetables need at least a half day of sunshine daily, preferably in morning.

How to get a cottage from a two-car garage

You may find that extra guest-room space you need right in your garage. The Ward Olmsteads, of Excelsior, Minnesota, proved that it can be done by converting a garage into a small cottage which offers comfortable sleeping for four people.

Put your best foot forward in your entry hall

Here's the BIG 3 in vegetables

Rank the vegetables you like for the amount of food they will produce in your garden space, the dollar return for your work, and the zest they'll add to your summer eating. Odds are you'll rate snap beans, tomatoes, and sweet corn as indispensable-- fresh or for canning or freezing.

Plan your kitchen to work two ways

Give your curtains a fresh, crisp look

Decorating ideas for you

How to have a study in your living room

One garden house serves five ways

Know how to plant a shrub or tree?

Let your kids know what's eating you!

Can your child tell when you are cross or low and in the dumps? "My wife thinks she hides it," says Ted Smith. "She puts on one of those angelic smiles.

Save space with smart storage planning

How-to Helps

Magazine Binder-- to hold your past issues of Better Homes & Gardens magazine. You can make good use of Better Homes & Gardens in the future, whenever a problem around the house occurs. Each binder holds six issues, is attractive, sturdy, and easy to use. Costs only $2.

How old should a camper be?

"But our Bobby's too young to go to camp. He's only 6." Many parents hesitate to send their children to resident summer camp before they reach 10 or 12 years of age because "they just aren't old enough."

Spruce up your outdoor furniture

Can you make your porch or terrace gay and inviting-- with outdoor furniture you already own? Chances are you can.

How to get a year-round patio

What you should know about bugs

First step in controlling the insects that can sear garden beauty and cut deeply into yields is to recognize the pests themselves-- and to recognize the damage they can do in your garden.

The diary of a plain dirt gardener

May 1 Warm today-- and David moved our new duck to a pen he made for it out of wire netting on the back lawn. My, how that duck is growing. Dear me-- no name for it yet. We don't want to make the mistake the boys did on the old duck that we had for 13 years.

May Garden Guide

Water newly seeded lawns frequently enough to keep the surface darkened with moisture. Sow seeds of tender annuals such as marigolds, four o'clocks, and pincushion flowers about the middle of the month

Try these play ideas on your children

Display trailing plants on a moss-stick

Lift your entrance out of the ordinary

Despite the combination of an automobile and a small lot, the front or entrance part of your home needn't be a landscaping headache.

Picture ideas you can use

Maybe it isn't athlete's foot

If your feet itch, burn, peel, crack, blister, and weep, you just know you have it-- athlete's foot, the fungus, or ringworm of the foot. But do you? Certainly the skin of your feet is sick. But there's an even chance that your diagnosis hasn't a leg to stand on. Before you try to slay the little fungus that may not be causing your trouble, look into other possibilities. One of the major ones is that your feet may be downright sick of their surroundings.

The MAN NEXT DOOR

Our neighborhood is divided between the pessimists who are waiting for the atom bomb, and the optimists who are waiting for color television.