October 1954

It's time to winterize your home

Can your child's I. Q. change?

In the minds of many parents, I.Q. has become an absolute, rather frightening measure of a child. Let's take a look at this tool that has become so important, to adults as well as to children. Just how good are I.Q. tests?

Latest Garden News

The origin of corn is an old mystery. Other food plants we now cultivate have wild relatives from which they were developed; none have been discovered for corn.

How to entertain the ...Doctor ...Lawyer ...Indian chief

Every so often, you're called upon to entertain some important person-- maybe a teacher, a well-known business-or professional man, a doctor, actor, or visiting lecturer.

We're getting bad drivers off our roads

Are you a good driver? You probably believe you are, or you wouldn't be driving. And you may be right. Then again, you could be wrong, very wrong. You may be a potential menace on the highway, heading for an accident that may be your last, and somebody else's, too.

New dental drill doesn't hurt!

I have had a hole drilled into one of my teeth by sound waves I couldn't feel, that didn't actually touch my tooth or even make a noise. The purpose was to remove a spot of decay and prepare the cavity for filling. Like almost everybody who has had a tooth filled, I have unhappy memories of painful grinding with the hot little cutting bur of the dentist's "drill" or hand piece. I usually grip the arms of the dentist's chair to keep from bouncing on the ceiling.

What the new Housing Act means to you

The Housing Act of 1954-- the most complete rewriting of such law in 20 years-- has now passed, with important benefits for buyers of either new or older homes.

Here's a spot we'd like to own

The house we couldn't afford

We just couldn't afford to build the kind of house we wanted, unless we did most of the work ourselves. We thought it over. We were living in a 2½-room apartment with no yard. Our first child, Cindy, was just beginning to run around, and a second, Susan, was on the way.

How-to-do-it ideas for your home

Make your own draperies--and save

Put up traverse rod. Brackets go at top of window frame, so draperies hide woodwork. Make sure the rod is perfectly horizontal.

We planned these for you to build

Hooked rugs--new, dramatic!

Hooking is nothing more than pushing or pulling loops of material (cut in strips) or yarn through a backing like cotton canvas, coarse linen, or burlap. You do this with a hook. It's easy, but consumes quite a little time.

You plant these bulbs now

Small house you can expand

This small house looks big, acts big-- and can grow still bigger. Its plan is modular, repeating 4-foot units to make the job of building go quicker and cheaper. It can be started as either a one- or a two-bedroom house. As the family grows, additional modular rooms can be added to either end of the house. Or, if foundations are planned for it, the expansion can go up with a second floor. Stair would be over present one, and open off entry.

Laugh, and live longer

If you're like most of us, you don't think much about laughter; you just enjoy that pleasant and infectious sound commonly used to express satisfaction or amusement.

Let lights extend your garden year

The fact that Jack Frost blows the whistle on the growing season is no reason for you to put aside your gardening instincts for the winter. Not when it's so easy and so satisfying to get spectacular results gardening with lights indoors.

You're closer to Bermuda than you think

People are forever moving Bermuda 1,000 miles south of its perfect spot in the Atlantic; it's not where they imagine it is. And to get there, they don't have to have the solid gold Cadillac they think it takes. Bermuda is not in the Caribbean, and it's not down in the West Indies. It's just 666 miles out of New York Harbor; three hours by plane-- same as New York City to Indianapolis. It's so close that a New Yorker can board the plane at Idlewild after office hours and enjoy the flower-fragrant night air of Bermuda well before midnight.

Basement or no basement?

Basement space is the cheapest space you can build. People live in basements. Women do laundry in basements. Children play in basements. Handymen work in basements. Families have parties in basements. Scooters and screens, furniture and food, tools and toys, boxes and bicycles are stored in basements.

Personal help in home building, remodeling, and decorating

When you're looking for ways to make your home more comfortable and attractive, look for this seal. It identifies the Better Homes & Gardens Home Planning Center, where you can get personal counsel on your home-planning problems.

Training your pet can be fun

A friend told me that eggs are not for dogs. But others say that eggs are good for dogs. What is the truth?-- Mrs. A. J. V., Ohio.

How to insulate pipes, ducts, and tubes

Light bulbs--how to choose and use them

You take it for granted that light bulbs can turn night into day inside your home. But they have come a long way since the first filament glowed for Thomas Edison 75 years ago this month. This Diamond-Jubilee year finds the light bulb performing many a task to make your home a brighter, healthier, and nicer place to live.

A foolproof way to make slipcovers

Avoid the tragedy of a careless snip into expensive slipcover material by following our foolproof muslin method. Cut a muslin pattern, fit it perfectly to your chair, then lay it on your slipcover fabric and cut. with confidence.

Can your wife pay the mortgage?

The "who-dun-it" has replaced the melodrama in the entertainment world. But in the hard world of business, widows still face the possibility of losing their homes because mortgages must be paid. Statistics show that for every home lost by fire, 16 are lost because the remaining spouse cannot keep up the payments.

Something new for Cape Cod

Tricks that help you mend

Loose hems get double security with the catch stitch. Working from left to right inside the garment, catch a few threads of material in the seam tape with needle. Bring threaded needle about one-fourth inch to right of stitch and catch a few threads of material just above seam tape, making sure that none of the stitches show on right side.

We visited an American oasis

Asia doesn't have a monopoly on oases-- the United States has them, too. Hidden Springs is in the Oro- copia Foothills in the Colorado Desert so named because the Colorado River forms its eastern boundary-- in Southern California.

Milk glass is back!

Let's try growing a "totem pole"

What to do with your leaves

Fall is here, which means raking or one of its variations now replaces mowing as your main duty around the yard. Why bother with moving leaves? Well, aside from the unsightliness of any leaf-littered lawn, layers of wet, matted leaves will smother a grass plot by shutting out the necessary light and air.

How to plant spring bulbs

Now's the time to...

Plant Chinese lilacs for hedges, and French hybrids alone or in small groups as specimen plants. Order hardy lily bulbs and plant them as soon as you get them.

A lamp to make

The diary of a Plain dirt gardener

Oct. 1 Can you hear that humming noise upstairs? That is Mrs. Maggie, running the vacuum cleaner in David's room. She is getting it all cleaned up and polished. You see, the glad home news is that unless the general chances his mind. Cpl.

Harden clinic

THE MAN NEXT DOOR

October's riot of colors would tempt any artist, so I wasn't surprised when I went over to see Lee Bayless and lie wasn't there. "He's been talking for weeks about doing some painting," his Isabel explained, "and when I suggested this was a good day for it, he took off for the woods." I asked her what kind of painting she meant-- oil or water color.