October 1952

Your favorites among the Five Star homes

If you have been at all faithful with your reading of Better Homes & Gardens, you don't need to be told that we have a splendid Five Star home plan service, and that you can buy the working plans for top-notch houses at only $5 a throw, and that 15 cents will bring you a cost- finding materials list for the house of your heart, so you can find out in advance how rough it is or isn't going to be on your budget.

Kids don't have to hate school

Boys and girls who don't like school usually learn less-- and learn more slowly-- than those who do like it. A youngster may well be bright enough to do superior work, but if he has no taste for school, he may barely squeak by in his studies.

BE READY FOR SPRING How to plant a peony

November 4, 1952

On November 4, 1952, we Americans are going on trial before the entire world to answer these charges: (1) We were too busy making money to take an interest in our government and our community. (2) We did not believe in the democracy we boasted about. (3) We were cynical, and did not believe there was any difference between the American political parties or the men who were seeking office.

Have you heard the Latest Garden News?

Grass may not grow on a busy street-- but scientists at the University of Illinois have made it grow through asphalt!

A family needs a friend

Luckily for small Gwen and Peter, the divorce case of Thomas versus Thomas, the children's parents, was decided in the Wayne County Circuit Court at Detroit. In Michigan, homes cannot be destroyed by a few words spoken by an uninformed judge.

Now's the time to make a Little garden in glass

Today's building materials and methods mean-- Cold-climate comfort

Janesville, Wisconsin, is not noted for its moderate climate. In fact, people there will tell you with a rather fierce pride of temperatures ranging from 27 degrees below zero in winter to 110 above in summer. Winters there are long and severe, with 30 inches of snow on the average; summers can be very warm.

Color schemes with a future

There's an idea for you in the clean-cut, simplified color schemes which are now the favorite of some of the country's most creative decorators. We don't mean some special color which may be popular today and ready for discard tomorrow. That's too extravagant for us! Rather it's a special new way of choosing and combining colors-- such as doing a complete room in light pastel blue with all the furniture in brown; or a bedroom with chairs, curtains, spread in yards and yards of identical chintz, maybe violet, pink, and black with violet walls.

Add a touch of autumn to your table

Mom is part of your family, too

In more than one sense of the term, this house is meant for an "open-minded" family. Plan-wise, it develops all of the living, dining, kitchen area in an open rectangle 25x20 feet-- broken only by a partition that conceals the laundry units.

Plant these spring pictures now!

Invite your guests in for...

CONTEST FOR COOKS

YOUR RECIPES for spring-vegetable fix-ups and ways with packaged cake mixes are the moneymakers in this month's contest. If your recipe wins top honors, you'll receive $10. The other 20 winners will be sent $3. Eight of the prizewinners will be pictured in the Prize Tested Recipes pages next May.

These show off your jam and jellies

Handsome redo for an old kitchen

Real helpers to serve the crowd

NABISCO SHREDDED

Bountiful salads for fall meals

Honey favorites you'll like

Just open a jar of honey and take a whiff of that delightful aroma, a taste of that tangy goodness. Little wonder we call our sweethearts, "Honey"!

Save steps in your kitchen

How many miles do you walk every day-- in your own kitchen? To test yourself, count the steps you take when you do one simple job.

KNAPP MONARCH

How to keep your sewing machine sitting perfectly

With simple care, you can keep a well-made sewing machine running easily and sewing perfectly-- whether it's old or new.

Build your furniture into corners

See yourselves in The Mirror of Youth

I asked guys and gals in all four classes at our school when they thought was a good time to start dating. The answers all ran about the same: "You have to consider each individual separately." "Some people are ready to start having dates sooner than others, so it's hard to say for sure." Several thought high-school freshmen or 15-year-olds ought to start going on dates. Everyone agreed that the first few dates should be planned so that the couple would be with other couples their own age-- double or group dates.

How to get the most from food

"Vitality from vitamins-- that's the way we keep our health," declares vivacious Dinah Shore who, in private life, is Mrs. George Montgomery. "And 'waterless' cooking is our BIG health secret.

Will they work next spring?

Budgetsavers that add interest to your walls

Need a new outlet or switch?

In most old houses-- and in too many new ones-- shortcomings of the wiring and lighting system are painfully numerous: You need more switches. You always need more outlets. You may even need more lights.

Yon can be your own cabinetmaker

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Your house doesn't have to grow old

On that Christmas morning, B. B. (before building), when my husband sniffed the air like a beagle on the scent of a rabbit, I thought he was registering appreciation of my new perfume. I was wrong. He was sampling the catacomb odor of our fireplace.

Here's site planning at its best

Here's a site plan full of features you can use to advantage on your lot

Keep that chrome looking new

What's new in home furnishings

This house grew into its garage

Good-bye, sun porch; hello, space!

Bookshelves decorate a room

Clean tools do more work

Utility room planned for Production-line efficiency

November looks good

Whether you're accustomed to picking up your copy of Better Homes & Gardens at the newsstand or right out of your mailbox, you'll not want to miss our November issue.

Hunting can be a family affair

When autumn's crisp weather rolls round and the leaves are brittle and brown, do you have the urge to join the thousands who troop to the outdoors-- to the hunting fields and woods-- for an exhilarating, tangy, sport-filled day? But you don't go because you don't know how to hunt? And no one in your family knows how to hunt-- and the kids want to learn-- and you want to teach them the RIGHT way-- but you're stuck because of lack of information?

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For hard-to-decorate spots, try Louvers and shutters

Your pet and mine

It's scientific name is Melopsittacus undulatus. You may know it as Budgie (short for Budgerigar, a corruption of the Australian name "Betcherrygah," which means "pretty bird"). But the term familiar to most people is-- parakeet.

Weekend vacation

The kids are back in school, the head of the house is again anchored by the business of making a living; and the distaff side is washing, ironing, cooking, and P.T.A.-ing. You had a good summer, a good vacation. You were glad to get back home and into the familiar everyday routine. But, now, there's something mysterious stirring in the air. It's autumn-- good old Indian summer!

What you should know about bulbs

The diary of a Plain dirt gardener

Oct. 1 Beautiful summer day-- sunshine, balmy breezes, temperature way up in 80's.

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OCTOBER GARDEN REMINDERS: Now's the time to...

Protect late-flowering mums and asters if frost is predicted. Cover overnight with burlap, paper, cloth. Dig tuberous begonias before frost. Leave tops on until they have dried.

Little Denver garden with spare-wise plan

THE MAN NEXT DOOR

"Here's the way we used to do it," I said, showing my Boy Scout son how to build a fire in our living-room fireplace. But all I got was a smoke screen. "One side, Daniel Boone," Mother said calmly, making her way through the smoke. "Here's the way we used to do it"-- and she opened the flue.