The top of the electric stove is no variant to this rule. It has the spots upon which to place the utensils and these spots are called the heating units. Heat, of course, is communicated in varying degrees between the units. These units are of cast or wrought iron. The tops of any electric stove must be of cast iron or some such non-warping rigid material which takes readily to cleaning. The heating element should be safe from molestations and the top of the stove must be smoothness itself to hold the utensils with perfect ease and steadiness. The units’ wire connection must be enclosed to protect the heating element. The top of the usual electric stove has about four cooking “holes” or plates, or heating elements. In some cases the electric connection is made by the heating units being equipped with pluglike sets or fingers (as your ordinary lamp plug) and fitting into a socket under itself. In other cases, if it be a three-heat stove, the three wires are directly connected with the heating element and all that has to be done in case of bad connection is to raise the heating element and unscrew the wires. In other styles when bad connection occurs you must search the surface beneath the plug, a little more complicated operation, but still the manufacturers of this feel that it is an added protection to wiring. The surface units, too, must come off easily so that no extra tool is needed to pick them up. OVENS AND BROILERS There are two kinds of ovens used in the electric stove, from the point of view of heat retention. One of them does not retain the heat completely enough to call itself a fireless cooker oven yet does retain heat to a great degree and cooks well after a little time on the third heat or low heat. The other style guarantees a fireless system of cooking when the electricity is cut off. Strange as it may seem, the largest and most elaborate and the most expensive stoves are not made with the retention-heat method because, no doubt, the persons that can pay about $1000 or even $700 for a stove have chefs and don’t really care whether they use more or less electricity. For ordinary use, however, and for the large stove which costs to-day around $140 to $225, it is well to have the retained-heat oven, the oven so insulated as to keep in the heat and keep out the cold, so that you can cook easily by fireless and save much electricity. The oven should be equipped with top and floor heating units. These should be controlled by a three-heat switch and so geared and wired as to be accessible. If one unit burns out the others will not. In some stoves the heating unit in the top of the bake oven is controlled by the same switch which operates the units in the oven bottom and is of proper intensity to insure good results.