which have been cleaned daily for twenty-five
years in a machine, and are very little the worse for wear.

Dressmakers tell us that, but for the sewing machine, an elaborate style
of trimming ladies' dresses would be impossible. We know that many
inexpensive delicacies, which it is not practicable to have now because
of the time and trouble they require, could easily be managed by the use
of little articles of domestic machinery. For instance, take potted
meat. There is the excellent Combination Mincer, also Kent's, by which
this is rapidly and perfectly done, and which enables cooks to use up
many scraps of material in a most acceptable way, and without the labour
of the pestle and mortar. This machine, however, is but little known. It
costs but a sovereign, is useful for all mincing purposes, and makes
the best sausages in the world.

To make sausages properly, a machine must have an adjustment of the
cutters by which the sinews of the meat and bits of skin are retained on
them, as nothing is so unpleasant as to find these when eating the
sausages. Thus it will be seen how necessary it is, in setting up
machinery which should last a lifetime, to have the best inventions in
the market. Not very long ago, a friend asked our opinion on the merits
of the different makers of knife-cleaning machines. We explained to her
the mechanism of the best of them, pointed out the superior workmanship,
and that she should not grudge the money to have one which would do its
work properly and be durable. Probably under the impression that "in the
multitude of counsellors there is wisdom," our friend made further
inquiries, and ended by buying a much-advertised machine which, she was
assured, was better and cheaper than that of Kent, the original
patentee. When she had the machine home, and calculated, together with
the cost of carriage, her own expenses in going to London to choose it,
she found that she had saved exactly eighteenpence, and then that her
bargain would not clean the knives!

The prejudices which for a long time existed against cooking by gas have
gradually cleared away now that improved stoves have been introduced,
and the public have experience of its many advantages. There are yet
some difficulties to be met in bringing gas into more general use, one
of which, the high price charged for it, is beyond the control of the
housekeeper, and another, that of teaching servants to be economical and
careful in its use. When