Miss Parloa's kitchen companion

Sink-rack. Sink -shovel. A wooden sink-rack, on which to place the dish-pan, is a desirable article. Sink-cleaners — strips of rubber fastened into frames — are so useful that one would not like to do without them after a trial ; and a sink-shovel also is a convenient thing to have. A knife-board, which will hold Bath brick and cloths, and can be hung up, is so cheap that every housekeeper should have one. Have a towel-rack fastened near the range. It will be especially convenient on rainy days when the dish-towels cannot be dried in the open air. A wire rack should be fastened over the sink in which to keep the various brushes Kitchen Knife-boards. which are used to keep strain- ers, pure'e sieves, tables, etc., clean. As nothing cleans wood-work and tiles more thoroughly than a sponge, a large coarse sponge also should be kept in this rack. Towel-rack. Wire Rack. A German heath sink-brush is clean and strong, besides being inexpensive. One should always be kept near the sink. Have a good clock in the kitchen, even if something else must be sacrificed for it. Many folk think that any kind of a timepiece will do, and others have none at all. Cooking cannot be done properly without a good clock as an aid. A soap-shaker is a convenient and economical utensil to have in both the kitchen and china-closet. All the Soap-shaker. X . . small pieces of soap can be saved and used in this shaker, and there is no danger of soap sticking to the dishes, as it does sometimes when a large piece of soap is put into the pan with the table-ware or cookingutensils. [illustration: Ash-barrel] Ash and garbage barrels should be made of galvanized iron. The coal-sifter should fit over the ash-barrel, which, of course, is to be kept where it is most convenient for emptying. The garbage-barrel should not be so large that it cannot be handled easily. CARE OF UTENSILS AND KITCHEN FURNITURE. MUCH of the flavor, delicacy, and wholesomeness of food depends upon the proper care of the utensils used. Besides, utensils which are properly cared for will last much longer than those which are not. Sand is used in many kitchens for scouring tins, tables, and floors. It is good for unpainted tables and floors, provided it be carefully washed off, but it never should touch tin or granite ware. Every kind of utensil — tin, iron, wood, etc. — should be. washed and wiped as carefully as the dining-room china. Many housekeepers do not provide proper towels for the kitchen. They think of the utensils as coarse things, and provide only coarse, hard crash for towels, with which dishes cannot be wiped smooth and dry. Every kitchen should be provided generously with three kinds of towels, — some of soft crash, for the hands, which can be made to go over a roller, or have tapes at the ends that they may be hung on hooks; a dozen, also of soft crash, made about a yard long, for the dishes, from plates and bowls to saucepans and iron pots ; and half a dozen of coarser texture, yet not hard and unyielding, for use about the range when lifting hot utensils. The towels mentioned last should be about four feet long. Unbleached cotton and linen are good and cheap material of which to make them.