A stove or range of plain finish is to be preferred, because it is much easier to keep clean, and will be likely to present a better appearance after a few months’ wear than one of more elaborate pattern.  But whatever stove or range is selected, its mechanism should be thoroughly understood in every particular, and it should be tested with dampers open, with dampers closed, and in every possible way, until one is perfectly sure she understands its action under all conditions.

OIL AND GAS STOVES.—­In many households, oil, gas, and gasoline stoves have largely taken the place of the kitchen range, especially during the hot weather of summer.  They can be used for nearly every purpose for which a wood or a coal range is used; they require much less labor and litter, and can be instantly started into full force and as quickly turned out when no longer required, while the fact that the heat can be regulated with exactness, makes them superior for certain processes of cooking to any other stove.  But while these stoves are convenient and economical, especially in small families, they should be used with much care.  Aside from the danger from explosion, which is by no means inconsiderable in the use of gasoline and oil stoves, they are not, unless well cared for altogether healthful.  Unless the precaution is taken to use them in well-ventilated rooms or to connect them with a chimney, they vitiate the atmosphere to a considerable extent with the products of combustion.  Oil stoves, unless the wicks are kept well trimmed, are apt to smoke, and this smoke is not only disagreeable, but extremely irritating to the mucous membrane of the nose and throat.  Oil stoves are constructed on the same principle as ordinary oil lamps, and require the same care and attention.

Quite recently there has been invented by Prof.  Edward Atkinson a very unique apparatus for cooking by means of the heat of an ordinary kerosene lamp, called the “Aladdin Cooker.”  The food to be cooked is placed in a chamber around which hot water, heated by the flame of the lamp, circulates.  The uniform heat thus obtained performs the process of cooking, slowly, but most satisfactorily and economically, the result being far superior to that obtained by the ordinary method of cooking by quick heat.  The cooker is only used for stewing and steaming; but Mr. Atkinson has also invented an oven in which the heat is conveyed to the place where it is needed by a column of hot air instead of hot water.  With this oven, which consists of an outer oven made of non-conducting material, and an inner oven made of sheet iron, with an intervening space between, through which the hot air circulates, no smoke or odor from the lamp can reach the interior.

KITCHEN.  UTENSILS.—­The list of necessary kitchen utensils must of course be governed somewhat by individual circumstances, but it should not be curtailed for the sake of display in some other department, where less depends upon the results.  A good kitchen outfit is one of the foundation-stones of good housekeeping.  The following are some of the most essential:—­