February 1955

. . . So you should write your congressman?

GO ahead and expound your views to your next-door neighbor-- but don't stop there. Write your congressman... he's the one who can help you. Maybe you don't even know his name, but that doesn't mean he doesn't know about you. You're his public, the reason he's in office. He wants to please you, if possible. But how can he when he doesn't even know you've got a problem?

Like your signature on a room

Our children like to go to bed

"HOW do you get your children to bed so easily-- and so fast?" our friends ask. "Just put them to bed," we answer.

Are you ruining your ear?

We're an awful bunch of car wasters. Every one of us commits from one to a half-dozen sins against his automobile, calculated to put the old buggy in its grave long before its time. Few of us can afford big repair bills; yet, every time we drive our cars, the odds are about 99 to 1 that we're doing things that lead inevitably to the garage.

Is your next project here?

How to go after a MORTGAGE LOAN

Mortgage financing is one of the finest credit tools ever devised. But, like all tools, you have to know how to use it.

Latest Garden News

Gardeners who say they don't have room for a compost pit won't have that alibi any longer. I find you can make clean, rich compost in a basement or a garage-- without odor or mess.

Make yours an all-family pet

What type of cat is best as a pet? --Mrs. G. F. C., Maryland. All breeds are very much alike in temperament and character.

66 WAYS to make an old kitchen young

GIVE YOUR KITCHEN A WIDE-OPEN LOOK AND MAKE IT ROOMIER AND EASIER TO WORK IN BY TAKING OUT CONFINING WALLS

PLAN TO SAVE STEPS IN AN OLD RACE-TRACK KITCHEN

FIVE IDEAS FOR HANDLING PANTRIES

A SPLASH OF COLOR WITH PAINT, NEW WALL OR FLOOR COVERING OR ACCESSORIES CAN BRING AMAZING CHANGES

CHECK LIGHTING AND VENTILATION SO EACH MEASURES UP TO A PLUS

Where the land is new

The heavy outboard coughs one last time and is still. A rock tied to a rope splashes down through stone-gray, rushing water; the boat thus moored-- a long steel skiff, innocent of paint-- swings in the muttering current as fish lines go over, bow and stern.

ROSES-how to buy and plant America's favorite flower

Tour Florida in the summer

Don't envy the lucky ones who sport a Florida tan in the winter. You can enjoy the same vacation-- and then some-- for less than half what they pay. The reason: offseason rates.

Living space right up to the roof!

This is the size and shape of a house you might well expect to have just one bedroom; at the most, two. The basic plan, a square, encloses a budget 734 square feet.

Spring in February? Why not?

Add dimension to your decorating

Zone your whole house for comfort with Honeywell Zone Control

A STRIKING EXAMPLE of a house zoned for year-round comfort is the new Dallas, Texas, home of the L. H. Luckeys, which you see here.

Try your hand at Swedish rye

Decorating details you'll want to try

This basement works overtime

If you're wishing you had an extra room for televi-sion, games, informal parties-- what about that little-used space in the basement? It doesn't have to take a lot of changes or expense.

Give your February tables new life

Two "identical" rooms

Planned for everyday living

Here's how to Forte flowering branches

Fix the electrical breakdowns yourself

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.

Florida and the Bahamas

First day. Drive from Mobile, Alabama, to Pensacola, Florida, over U. S. 90; to Tallahassee over U. S. 98 and 319. About 300 miles. Driving time, about 8 hours.

Striking dress-ups for a bedroom wall

Put your porch to year-round use

Remember how much more space your home seemed to have last summer when you could use the porch? The whole family had plenty of elbowroom.

Discipline

It's easier to laugh at things other people's children do than at the misdemeanors of your own children. But if you can keep your sense of humor when you correct your youngsters, or at least not get emotionally upset, you are fortunate. You can relax and enjoy your family. You can help your children develop happy personalities.

Build your way to a better garden

How to start new house plants

Now's the time to...

Paint brightly colored bands around tool handles so they will be easier to spot on the lawn. Order grass seed and plant food to have on hand for lawn work next month.

The diary of a Plain dirt gardener

Here it is again-- the shortestmonth of the year. But the one full of dreams and planning. I'm really beginning to hanker for springtime to come this year--more so than for several years back. I'm longing to get out to prune, spade, plant, hoe.

Correction

Leather is decorating news

If you've been furniture-shopping lately, you're aware that use of genuine leather is an important decorating trend.

THE MAN NEXT DOOR

Rumor got started that the Widow Weems was going to sell her house and move to New fork to live with her sister. So, mournfully, the neighbors began planning a party for her. Then we found out she wasn't leaving, after all, but we held a little get-together for her, anyhow. "A farewell party," we told her, "for the lumps in our throats."