May 1955

Put your scrap plywood to work

Food on a fence

How to get a big house for less

Article

Medicine's newest weapon

A new medical development, becoming available as you read this, promises to be of great importance to your family's health.

Get more from glads

Do your trees need feeding?

The garage moved out . . . the family moved in

WHAT'S NEW in home furnishings

No more fumbling for light switches! A new table lamp goes on or off when you merely touch the base. Passing your hand over the gold- or silver-colored motif set in the ceramic base starts the chain of impulses that controls the light, as if by magic. The lamp styles will complement Traditional or Contemporary rooms.

COLOR is fun to use

10 driving tips from your state troopers

At a grocery store near Laurel, Maryland, the other day, shoppers heard a frantic horn, then the smash of metal and glass.

Garden furniture you can build

This is your year for Washington

You'll never forget your first thrilling sight of Washington. And as you become better acquainted with the city, you'll be amazed at its order and beauty. We live in Washington, and love it. Perhaps that's why we urge every American family to make at least one pilgrimage to the capital. Here, and in neighboring areas, are graphic concepts of history and government that can never be matched in school. And for recreation, remember that Washington plays host to diplomats from far corners of the globe.

A top development house

When the country's biggest development builder of houses brings out a new model home, it's worth knowing what it has to offer. We asked Levitt and Sons, creators of the two gigantic (over 30,000 houses built since the war) Levittowns in Pennsylvania and on Long Island. A good many of the features they pointed to, bear out our own knowledge of what's happening in development housing this year the country over.

Plant these showy beauties

Build your own plant boxes

Decorating ideas from Old Sturbridge Village

YOU TAKE a step into the past when you visit Old Sturbridge Village, Massachusetts. It's a Yankee village of the early 1800s brought to life. There's more to it than just a glimpse at the past, however. In each home, your hostess is dressed in authentic period costume. She is well versed in the history of the house and the family who lived there.

Spring bouquets lend beauty to your home

Air conditioning? You'll like it, too

What is it like to live with air conditioning? Is it worth the cost? But then, what does it cost? To answer these and dozens of other questions about air conditioning, Better Homes & Gardens quizzed the eight families, from different cities, pictured on this and the following pages.

TONSILS Should they come out or not?

With eyes red and disconsolate and a nose that bespoke numerous blowings (and an occasional swipe with a small shirt sleeve), a 5-year-old boy sat recently in the office of a Midwest throat specialist. His mother, tired and harassed, sat beside him and addressed her remarks to the listening physician.

Step out with ease

It's lots of fun to be invited out-- whether to a dinner party, to the theater, afternoon card party, or wedding reception. And you'll have a lot more relaxing time if you're not in a quandary about what to wear, or whether you accepted correctly, or whether you did the right thing in refusing a dinner invitation to go elsewhere. Here are some suggestions that may brighten your evenings out.

Inside or out, the living's fine

Time for a change!

The stork brought two new rooms

May is a big gift month

When your baby gets into everything

From the day your baby learns to crawl, he is constantly discovering objects that require his immediate inspection. Vases, ashtrays, lamps, books, cupboards-- the scope of his investigations is unlimited, unless you limit it.

Your piano

"We haven't had our piano tuned |in about five, years. Do you think it should be done?"... If my father had a dollar for every time he has heard this and similar expressions, he could have retired comfortably years ago.

Know and control iris borers

Stairway decorating--up, down, around

Jig up for the job

We visited "The Atomic City"

Oak Ridge, Tennessee, is open to tourists now. And if you happen to be driving to or from Florida or anywhere in the Great Smoky Mountain region, "The Atomic City" makes an ideal stopover. It's 20 miles northwest of Knoxville. From the north, U. S. 25 to Clinton is the main road.

Keep your marble looking new

You may have moved marble into your home for the first time, now that it's appearing in more and more new furniture. Or, if you have an older home, chances are your fireplace or floors sport touches of this beautiful material. Perhaps you've found an old piece of marble and turned it into a "new" table like the one pictured. Whether your marble is old or new, it needs day-to- day care to keep its rare luster and smoothness.

Wilderness finishing school

Joe Munroe of Mount Vernon, Ohio, is a free-lance photographer whose son, Lee, graduated from high school last June. Lee and a friend, Art Willis, sought summer jobs with the U.S. Forest Service in the Bridger Wilderness Area of Wyoming. Neither boy had been farther west than Illinois except for brief family auto tours, Other than the usual childhood camping-out, neither had had any previous experience with outdoor life.

Upholstered stool

How to live on a bargain lot

This home will tell you and your family a great deal about today's better living. And you won't have to duplicate the plan to use the houseful of ideas offered here.

Sewing space is where you find it

This sewing built-in answers the how and where of storing your every sewing need-- front your machine to safety pins.

MAY GARDEN REMINDERS: New's the time to . . .

Set out young annuals and bedding plants-- zinnias petunias, marigolds, and the like. Shade them from sun and wind with shingles for a few days.

Safe driving

"Following too closely behind another car, both on an open, highspeed road-- where one's judgment of necessary stopping distance often is poor-- and in built-up populated sections," is one of the most dangerous driving errors you can commit, according to the American Automobile Association.

Edgings and mowing strips

The diary of a Plain dirt gardener

It was a bird singing that awakened me to May, and I was still too sleepy to know whether it was a brown thrasher or a catbird.

Bridal-shower idea

Keep your dog worm-free

The true symptoms of worm infestation in a dog are: general poor condition, anemia, weight loss, poor appetite, intermittent diarrhea, and an occasional cough. Contrary to popular belief, "scooting" and "fits" are not indicative of worms.

How to Keep your wife's

kitchen cooking

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.

Where to get it

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Decorating questions

We're confused about what color to paint our living-room walls to go with our furnishings. We have a medium-green carpet, dark-green sofa with chairs to match, and two occasional chairs of a fairly bright rose red. Most of the wood finishes are dark mahogany.

THE MAN NEXT DOOR

Our teen-ager is often smarter than Mom and me "Stop scolding," she begged last night, after dawdling unreasonably over dressing for a party. "I'm not sluggardly; I'm just scared. I've never been anywhere with a college boy before. If you've got to talk to me, help me build up some confidence."