I LIKE to call this season autumn because it seems associated with evening, mellowness, and the period of increase rather than that of defeat and deterioration. Somehow the word fall is not a good name for this season. I suppose it was called fall because the leaves are shed. Why not think of every event in as pleasant terms as possible?
OCTOBER is the month for carrying on and keeping up in the garden. In September you were full of plans, but the chances are you did not carry out half of them. So keep on with the good work. "April showers bring May flowers," but it's October planting and work that brings both April and May flowers, and don't you forget it, even if days are nipping cold sometimes.
NO TIME is happier spent than in planning for the coming of the early flowers. The first flowers are sweetest. It's the lingering, late winter days and "the pang of the want of a thing," I suppose, that makes them so precious when they open their starry eyes upon a chilly, barren-looking world and, with all of a baby's audacity, stretch their little stems to gather in every bit of the sun's warmth.
"YOUR system sounds all right," Harriet said to me, "but suppose I do not have one quality to set against another. Suppose, for instance, I am both extravagant and lazy. Then what can I do?"
THERE is an established feeling that when one has little money to spend it is difficult to shop and buy furniture which is in good taste. But is it? We asked ourselves this question and then set about to answer it by a series of personal-investigation tours to shops in various-size towns and cities.
BERRIES are perhaps not quite as massive as flowers, but their effectiveness is great because of the longer duration of the fruits, because they are so very prominent when most trees and shrubs have lost their blossoms and leaves and consequently there is little color in the garden.
A GROUP of plants now coming into prominence is the genus Calochortus, popularly known as Mariposa (butterfly-lilies). These plants of western North America are closely related to the tulips of the Old World. More favor would doubtless be accorded the group, as the flowers of all the species are attractive and some exceedingly beautiful, if it were not for the cultural difficulties that are encountered.
LEARNING to listen to music and listening to learn about music are two important educational activities which any mother (or teacher) may carry on thru fascinating play.
NOT so very long ago I went adventuring on my own doorstep! It doesn't sound reasonable, but it is true, nevertheless. What I had in mind when I set out was a long and dangerous journey thru the fastnesses of my garden jungle in search of wary beasts which I knew lurked in the dense foliage.
WHILE the United States is first of all indebted to England for its cultural inheritance, which is typified in its architecture by what is known as the Georgian, Colonial, and so-called English houses, it is also indebted to France and Italy and Spain for a large portion of the good things in art and living which we have as a part of our present-day existence.
"ANY step taken in the direction of physical health will simultaneously advance the mental progress of a child."
TO US in the South autumn is one of the busiest garden seasons. Our work, however, is not that of preparing for winter. At this season our paramount problem is to keep our gardens "carrying on" with an abundance of bloom. If our gardens are given something of the enthusiastic effort that characterizes our spring endeavors, we reap a brilliant display of color.
THE romance of plant names has fascinated generations of herbalists, botanists, and gardeners. It is quite as pleasant to know the origin and meaning of plant names as it is to recognize friends by name and to know their relationships and nationalities.
IN THE nine years since I bought my house I have not burned more than 11 tons of coal in any one year, altho 16 tons a year was the least that had been burned by the previous owner.
THERE is a way of following Nature's laws which may prove to be unusually valuable to one who is planning a rock garden on his home grounds. It has to do with proportion and is a method which was lost for a long time. It contains certain principles used by the old Greeks in laying out the grounds for some of their temples and in making designs for buildings, statues, vases, and other works of art.
WHEN I was a youngster poring over an old volume called Girls Who Became Famous (does anybody ever read that book any more?) I remember wondering why so few of those famous girls became wives and mothers of the regulation sort like your mother and mine-- or rather (and this is more to the point) why so few wives and mothers became famous!
A SHORT time ago I came across a map of the world on which someone had carefully traced the travels of Herbert Hoover. Out of curiosity I counted the countries which the President had visited. There were 47.
CRISP October days, golden in the sun, gardens painted with splashes of reds and yellows and bronze as tho striving to leave a vivid memory that will not fade during the gray and white days just ahead! Now is the time when our thoughts turn to plans of autumn and winter entertaining.
OCTOBER should be one of the biggest planting months in the garden year. Between the early part and latter part of the month there are very few things that cannot be planted. Make the most of the cool weather by reorganizing and replanting your garden if it needs it.
IT WAS said of one of the Roman emperors that he found Rome of brick and left it of marble. Liberty Hyde Bailey has done as much for the literature of American horticulture and agriculture. More than this, he is the successor of Emerson, Thoreau, and Burroughs in the artistic expression of life.
THE world is literally full of houses, their variety is almost as great as their number, and they vary as greatly as do the personalities of the people who live in them. Each one represents an ideal of living-- more tangibly, almost a mode of living-- and leaves a definite impression upon our minds as we pass it on the street or see it placed before our eyes on the pages of a magazine.
THERE is virtue in purchasing equipment that will make work easier and more pleasant and will release time and energy for reading, for music, social contacts, companionship with husband and children, and outdoor recreation.
NOW is quite the time to be thinking ahead for the Christmas list, and the numbers we are offering may exactly fit your plans. Pillows are so acceptable; and to receive the gift of an embroidered back-piece and arm-rest set, either for the easy chair or the davenport, or both, would add midwinter adventure to homemaking.
HERE we are, Junior Gardeners, again meeting at the garden gate that opens into Hollyhock Lane. "See that turn in the lane?" asks Cousin Marion. "Our Hollyhock Lane gardener tells me that it leads to Sunset Garden, where there are as many beautiful colors as are to be found in the rainbow-- it is called the October garden."
IT IS surprising how many useful things can be made for the home if only part of a handy man's spare time is spent in his home workshop.
COMBINE 2 pounds of ground veal steak with 1 pound of ground cured ham and work in 2 cupfuls of fine cracker crumbs.
No. 692, black rayon-satin pillow cover, 13 x 16 inches, with a stamped front to embroider, price 50 cents.
EVEN in this advanced age there are still a few parents who are completely out of touch with the public-school life that is lived by their children during the larger part of the day. There are mothers who heave audible sighs of relief when Willie or Junior becomes 5 or 6 years old-- their work is practically over and now the child in question has become teacher's problem.
OVER in the sunny cornfield sat Wag, holding a fat pumpkin tightly in his arms. Piggsy and Wiggsy stood nearby and laughed to see him cut funny criss-cross holes in its plump side with his new birthday knife.
ONE day as I was down in our basement my eyes rested on an old table that had been used in the kitchen. Directly above was a shelf of paint cans. Instantly I thought of an idea.
TRAVELING abroad has its many advantages, so well known as to require no comment. There is one reason for traveling abroad that can hardly be excused, from our point of view, however. If people drift into the habit of touring in other lands only because these lands furnish more attractive surroundings than those at home, a check-up is very much needed.