_Steel._——Endures intense heat. Durable. Medium weight. Fairly easy to clean. Affects acid fruits. Medium cost. Same uses as iron, also for roasting and baking pans, and smaller kettles. _Tin._——Tin, a “useful metal,” is plated on thin sheet iron for utensils. So-called _block_ tin is the best quality. Will not endure intense heat. The tin wears and scratches off with use. Not easy to clean. Discolors easily, and colors acid fruit. Poor tin ware is not worth buying. Good quality is not cheap. May be used for measures, and for small saucepans, but is less desirable than other wares. _Wooden ware._——Used for molding boards, meat boards, and spoons. _The patterns of utensils._——Select those made without seams, or flutings, where food particles collect. Bowls, saucepans, and kettles should have a _lip_ on the side, for the pouring out of liquids. A pitcher should be of such shape that it can be easily washed, and it should have a lip that will pour well. A pot for boiling coffee should have a lip and not a spout. Select utensils with non-conducting handles. Study carefully the selection of knives, and do not try to economize in their purchase. Knives must be sharp, and poor quality steel will never take a good edge. A worn table knife of Sheffield steel, when ground down, makes the best of kitchen knives. Buy a good sharpener and use it frequently. =Labor-saving devices.=——A good machine saves the wear and tear of human muscle, and also much time. If you have studied the principles of the lever and other mechanical devices, you will understand why this is.[3] Learn to pay for, use, and clean good machines. A “_Dover_” _egg beater_ is built on the principle of the “wheel and axle.” The large wheel has five times as many cogs as the small, one revolution of the large wheel giving five of the small, and one turn of the handle five revolutions of the blades. It saves your wrist, and saves time to use the “Dover” in place of a fork. It is more trouble to wash the Dover beater than the fork. Yet a cook may object to a bread mixer and meat chopper, because they are harder to clean than the bowl and spoon and knife. A _good bread mixer_ saves strength and is sanitary. Fig. 12. [Illustration: FIG. 12.——An inexpensive bread mixer, cover on and off. _Courtesy of Landers, Frary and Clark._] A _meat chopper_ or grinder also saves strength and time, and is cleaner than the wooden chopping bowl. LIST OF UTENSILS[4] _For preparing and mixing._