Tin articles are light to handle and cheap, but soon become discoloured and require a good deal of scouring to keep them in fair condition. Iron utensils are heavy, hard to keep clean and rarely necessary. Pots and pans are now frequently made of aluminum. It is a luxury to lift them and they are pretty, but they are also costly and easily injured. Copper utensils have become rare; their chief recommendation is beauty. A College kitchen in Oxford glowing with rows and rows of copper platters and dish covers and pots and kettles remains in my memory as a glory and a splendour. But, my stars! what generations of scourers have toiled to see their crooked images appear in those red-gold surfaces! Copper articles have a disadvantage beyond requiring much care. If used for food they should be tin lined and the lining kept in good condition, for sometimes chemicals in food form a poisonous combination with the copper. Our ancestors did not have to worry about copper pots. When they were poisoned, they drowned a witch or went on a pilgrimage, and recovered or not according to their constitutions. Wooden conveniences for the kitchen, such as rolling pins and pastry boards are also gradually giving place to those made of other materials, for the reason that they are less cleanly and less cool than articles made of glass or metal. _Selection._--The cook's personal preferences should be considered whenever kitchen utensils are bought. Many housewives consult their cooks before purchasing new articles. I know one who sends the cook to the shop to do the purchasing. That such thoughtfulness and care are not always exercised is evidenced by the fact that some excellent cooks own a number of cooking utensils themselves because they do not find them in the kitchens in which they work, and can seldom persuade their mistresses to buy them. The most satisfactory way to get a kitchen outfit is to buy a few things at a time. They will in this way be more carefully selected, the expense will not fall heavily on one week or on one month or even on one year, and there will be things new and old. To have all new things is only a little less inconvenient than to have all old things. To give a list of appliances most necessary for the kitchen is to make every one who reads it wish to improve it. That may be a good reason for giving it. Be that as it may, here is such a list: