To make sausages properly, a machine must have an adjustment of the cutters by which the sinews of the meat and bits of skin are retained on them, as nothing is so unpleasant as to find these when eating the sausages. Thus it will be seen how necessary it is, in setting up machinery which should last a lifetime, to have the best inventions in the market. Not very long ago, a friend asked our opinion on the merits of the different makers of knife-cleaning machines. We explained to her the mechanism of the best of them, pointed out the superior workmanship, and that she should not grudge the money to have one which would do its work properly and be durable. Probably under the impression that "in the multitude of counsellors there is wisdom," our friend made further inquiries, and ended by buying a much-advertised machine which, she was assured, was better and cheaper than that of Kent, the original patentee. When she had the machine home, and calculated, together with the cost of carriage, her own expenses in going to London to choose it, she found that she had saved exactly eighteenpence, and then that her bargain would not clean the knives!
The prejudices which for a long time existed against cooking by gas have gradually cleared away now that improved stoves have been introduced, and the public have experience of its many advantages. There are yet some difficulties to be met in bringing gas into more general use, one of which, the high price charged for it, is beyond the control of the housekeeper, and another, that of teaching servants to be economical and careful in its use. When this last can be overcome, even with the first named drawback, gas will not be found more expensive than coal. The cost of wood, of sweeping the chimney, and the extra wear and tear occasioned by the soot, smoke, and dust of a coal fire, must be calculated in addition to the fuel itself.
It will be seen, when we say that the entire cooking for a small family having late dinners, bread baked, and much water heated, is done for something under £2 a quarter, that gas as a fuel is not so great an extravagance after all. The stove used has the oven lined with a non-conducting substance, which has the advantage of keeping the heat within instead of sending it into the kitchen, as stoves made only of iron plates are apt to do. We have but space to add that the benefit to health, the cleanliness, the saving of time, labour, and temper, to say nothing of the superiority of cooking done by gas in such a stove as has been described, can only be fully appreciated by those who, like the writer, have had twenty years' experience of all these advantages.
NEW ZEALAND FROZEN MUTTON.
The high price at which meat has stood for some years has made it necessary for the working classes to restrict themselves to a scanty allowance of animal food, and this often of poor quality. The difficulty of providing joints of meat for their families has, indeed, also been felt severely by people who are comparatively well-to-do. Under these circumstances capitalists have thought it worth a considerable investment of money to discover some means of bringing the cheap and magnificent supplies of New Zealand into the English market. After many failures, success has at length crowned the enterprise, and nothing can exceed the perfection in which New Zealand mutton is now placed on the English market. It is universally admitted that the meat, both as respects its nutritive value and its flavour, is unsurpassed, while the price is very moderate. The same remarks apply to New Zealand lamb. It commences to arrive in January, and is in the height of its season when our English lamb is a luxury which can only be enjoyed by the few.
Nelson Brothers, Limited, stand foremost among the importers of this invaluable food supply. The mutton and lamb selected by them is of the highest quality, and their system of refrigeration is perfect. In summer these New Zealand meats have a great advantage over the home supply, as although in keeping they may lose colour, they remain good and sweet much longer than English-killed meat.
The Company have large refrigerating stores under Cannon Street Station capable of holding some 70,000 sheep, and have recently erected stores of treble that capacity at Nelson's Wharf, Commercial Road, Lambeth, wherein the latest improvements both as regards construction and refrigerating machinery have been adopted, in order to facilitate the development of the frozen meat trade.
Nelson Brothers have also Branch Offices at—