June 1956

$25,000.00 Home Improvement Contest for 1956

THIS CONTEST covers any improvement to your home and surrounding property. And you have 128 chances to win in the four divisions-- Exteriors, Interiors, Additions, and Kitchen-Utility areas-- explained in detail further on. You are officially entered in the contest when we receive a Preliminary Entry From from you

How to make the most of space you have

Your living room probably doesn't have the exact space pictured here. It probably doesn't have the same placement of doors and windows. Even so, you may be faced with the same problems of how to get the kind of living you want in the space available.

Your year for pinks!

If you've never grown pinks before, this could be a grand time to get acquainted with them. You still have time to plant them this spring. Young plants, set out now, will start blooming this summer and brighten your garden until frost.

Decorating preview

Violet-- new, cool color for home furnishings. Some call it amethyst, lilac, or mauve but it makes pretty decorating by any name. Try violet towels and violet composition counter tops in the bathroom. Or give your kitchen the glamor touch with violet and pink marbleized vinyl floor tile. Even metal dining chairs and porch furniture come upholstered in a good-looking violet tweed effect siliconized to resist spotting.

These FOODS are NEWS!

Milkshake mixes you can make in a shaker are available in three flavors: vanilla and strawberry (¾-ounce packages), and chocolate (5/8-ounce). Each package, plus a little sugar and 2 cups milk, will make 2 tall glasses of delicious chilled beverage. For richer shakes, add a scoop of ice cream; or for a change of flavor use fruit juice instead of milk.

Will your shrubs take the hot weather?

What'll it be three bedrooms or four?

This month's Five Star home comes with a choice. The house on this page and the one on 168 are variations of the same fine plan. Both use latest construction techniques. Both capture a triple crown of eye appeal, elbow-room, and economy. Here's the story behind them:

Why all the mystery in prescriptions?

When your physician writes a prescription and hands it to you, what is the first thing you do with it?

Have you heard the Latest Garden News?

It took half a ton of silk-worm larvae to supply German researchers with a few milligrams of a chemical for recent experiments, but the results are worth it. Hormone control of insects-- similar to control of weeds with 2,4-D-- may be just around the corner.

How to expand with the least expense

Sectional furniture is a space-maker

ABC's of flower arrangement

The art of Japanese flower arranging is so simple you can follow it like a recipe. Its dramatic use of line, depth of design, and naturalness of effect-- so characteristic of the Oriental style-- are easily achieved once the rules and their reasons are learned and understood.

New look at the 60-foot lot

How we elect a president

The Constitution merely requires that a president be at least 35 years old, a native-born citizen, and have lived in the United States 14 years. But practical politics demands a lot more!

Perennials forever!

They're swimming before they know it

As a physical-education instructor at Christian College, who conducts private swimming classes in summer, I would be the first to advise that it would be better to let a stranger teach a child to swim, especially a trained swimming teacher.

Look what a basement can do

Outdoor chefs, the sky's your limit!

"It's a special occasion"

Make the most of your laundry area

Good ways with a long loaf

These cakes all frost themselves

The truth about the Alaska Highway

If you plan to drive the highway to Alaska, there are surprises ahead for you. You'll be surprised to find wooden culverts, miles of gravel, tin dippers and buckets.

There's new beauty in blinds Drawings: Dick Larson

Your wiring is 20 years behind the times

This we know: Four out of five homes are underwired. And even two-thirds of today's new houses are not properly serviced by electricity.

Park Ridge sees accidents coming

Jimmy L., an 18-year-old Park Ridge, Illinois high-school senior, had a date with his best girl. His father had allowed him to use the family car for the occasion, and Jimmy was driving it across town at a pretty good clip because he was late for his date. He turned from a side street onto Highway 12, and accelerated to 45 mph. His eye caught a flashing red light in his rear-view mirror.

Yon and your FEARS

Build your way to a better garden

For rich rewords, make bedtime "storytime"

"Now, we'll get you into your pajamas, go to the bathroom, brush your teeth, get your drink of water, and..." Mother pauses. "And then you'll tell me a story!" Tommy finishes eagerly.

How to handle a small boat

At Buffalo, New York, the other day, an eager vacationer filled his arms with picnic supplies and walked out on a dock to his rented motorboat.

Easy exterior repairs

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. Leading stores throuhout the

Step by step to a concrete drive

Use every inch of space

Now's the time to

Shrubs and trees: Spray lilacs and other woody plants with malathion to control young oyster-shell scale while these pests are most vulnerable. Look for evidence of borers in lilacs, dogwood, and birches-- sawdust at bases of plants is the tip-off. Destroy pests by probing hole with wire or by injecting carbon bisulfide and plugging holes with mud.... Cut the brown flower heads off lilacs but be sure not to injure the new shoots just below each old bloom.

Gold-tender plants to bolster your summer border

The diary of a Plain dirt gardener

June 1 "What's the matter? Are you sick or something?" says I to Maggie, as I came down the stairs this bright but chilly morning.

Safe driving

Let's face it-- night driving is dangerous. A great help in preventing accidents is the new sealed-beam headlight, made for both 6- and 12-volt systems. It adds 80 feet to your vision, even on the low beam.

THE MAN NEXT DOOR

"Trouble is you don't give your wife enough leeway," Bill Norman advised when he found me grumping in front of the First National Bank because my head lady was late in meeting me. "I always tell Isabel, 'Let's make it 5 o'clock. But you needn't hurry. I'll meet you right in front of the magazine store where the little redhead works'."