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for several rooms, because, in the event of removal to a house with different sized apartments, a piece of one carpet may be taken to eke out another.
Tables, Chairs, &c.
When ordering tables, chairs, and other wooden articles of a fine quality, take care to specify that they must be of a solid fabric, and not veneered. Veneering is only tolerable in a few articles which are not to be subjected to much tear and wear; nevertheless, a practice has begun of veneering articles in daily use, such as chairs and tables, and consequently they are soon destroyed. Examine closely the back and seat-frames of every mahogany chair, and reject it if it be veneered. In ordering sofas, you should also take care to bargain for genuine hair stuffing, for in many instances the stuffing is composed of what is technically called pob, or a composition of tow, wool, and other kinds of rubbish.
Earthenware and China.
In purchasing your china and earthenware articles for the table, take care to select sets which, in case of breakage, can at all times and in all places be easily matched. If you buy table ware of a peculiar or rare pattern, and afterwards break several pieces, you may find it impossible to replace them. Thus a particular set of earthenware or china, however beautiful and cheap, may ultimately prove a source of great annoyance and no little expense.
Plate.
Whatever silver articles you buy, let them be of a genuine kind, or of sterling silver plate, which always keeps its value, however old and worn it may become. Avoid all plated goods, for the plating soon wears off, and then the article is valueless. If you cannot afford to purchase sterling silver plate, your most economical plan, consistent with elegance of appearance, will be to get a few articles of German silver. This is properly the metal called nickel, and closely resembles sterling silver in texture and colour. In hardness and durability, it is superior to sterling silver, and its price is only about a tenth of what genuine plate would cost. German silver is now manufactured to a large extent in England, and is made into spoons, forks, ladles, tea-pots, salvers, dish-covers, and all other articles for the table. The articles in Britannia metal, such as tea-pots, coffee-pots, &c. should be of a durable fabric, and always kept well scoured.
