No dishes or utensils can be well cared for without good, clean dish-cloths and towels, and plenty of them. An excellent dishcloth may be either knit or crocheted in some solid stitch from coarse cotton yarn. Ten or twelve inches square is a good size. Several thicknesses of cheesecloth basted together also makes a good dish-cloth, as do also pieces of old knitted garments and Turkish toweling. If a dish-mop is preferred, it may be made as follows: Out a groove an inch from the end of a stick about a foot in length, and of suitable shape for a handle; cut a ball of coarse twine into nine-inch lengths, and lay around the stick with the middle of the strands against the groove; wind a fine wire or cord around the twine to fasten it in the groove; then shake down the twine, so it will lie all one way like a mop, and fasten to the handle by tying a second cord around it on the outside.

Towels for drying dishes should be of three different grades, - fine ones without lint for glass, silver, and fine china; coarser ones for the ordinary tableware; and still another quality for pans, kettles, and other kitchen-ware. A convenient size is a yard in length and half as wide, with the ends hemmed. As to material, fine-checked linen is usually employed for glass and silver towels, and crash for ordinary dishes, while for iron and tinware, towels which have become somewhat worn, or a coarse bag opened and hemmed, may be used. Old half-worn table-cloths may be made into excellent dish-towels.

It is of the greatest importance that all dish-cloths, mops, and towels be kept perfectly sweet and clean. Greasy dish-cloths or sour towels are neither neat nor wholesome, and are a most fertile source of germs, often breeding disease and death.

After each dish-washing, the dish-cloth, towels, and mops should be thoroughly washed in hot water with plenty of soap, well rinsed, and hung to dry either upon a line out of doors, or a rack made for the purpose near the kitchen range. If care is taken to scrape the dishes clean before washing, and to change the suds as often as it becomes dirty, the towels will not be hard to keep clean. Those used during the week should go into the wash as regularly as other household articles.