Chopping is usually performed in the kitchen, with a large common knife; but is more speedily done by some of the improved contrivances similar to the following:—The chopping-board should be made of hard wood, with the grain at right angles to the surface of the board, by which it is rendered much more durable than if they are parallel to it. The chopping-knives should be placed at right angles to the handles, and may be of either the following patterns. If a large quantity of material has to be acted on, we would recommend a board as above, not less than three inches thick, and smooth on both sides, so that either may be used, of the requisite size—say eighteen inches or two feet in diameter. On this should stand a loose bottomless tub, to confine the materials, and the whole resting on the floor, should be used with a knife, sufficiently long in the handle to be employed by a person standing erect, and it would be very convenient to have a small cross-bar for the hands, as shown in _Fig. 12_. [Illustration: _Fig. 10._] [Illustration: _Fig. 11._] [Illustration: _Fig. 12._] Small chopping-knives are sold, consisting of three blades riveted together, and a very convenient one is made by fastening, at convenient distances, a number of flat circular disks, sharpened at the edges, on to a central axis with a handle at each end. Many substances, such as stale bread, dried herbs, &c., may be very conveniently powdered by rubbing them through a wire sieve, of the requisite degree of fineness. Herbs intended for use in this way, should be dried as rapidly as possible, without being scorched, in small heaps, before the fire; parsley and others done this way, may be powdered, retaining their bright green colour and flavour, both of which are preserved if they are corked tightly in bottles, and kept in a dry, dark cupboard. The use of waxed paper to preserve dried powders in, or for tying them down in jars, or generally as a very good substitute for bladder, will often be found convenient. It is readily made by laying a sheet of smooth stout paper on a warm iron plate, as the top of a kitchen oven; on this place the thin tissue or other paper to be waxed; put a piece of wax on it, and as it melts, rub it over, spreading it evenly. One end of a cork, covered with two thicknesses of linen, answers very well for a rubber. If a hot plate is not at hand, the sheet of paper may be held before the fire, and rubbed over as it warms, with the cut edge of a cake of white wax; but this requires the co-operation of two persons. VI. KNOTS, PACKAGES, PARCELS, ETC. The poet Crabbe, speaking of the writing of the rustics, signing his parish register, says— “’Tis strange that men Who guide the plough should fail to guide the pen! For half a mile the furrows even lie; For half an inch the letters stand awry.”