3) For the past nine years in charge of research for the largest clay products manufacturer in Western Canada. Brick, sewer- pipe, porcelain. Although the first two items are very important to me it is because of the specific knowledge gained in the third that I presume to write. This does not make me THE AUTHORITY but I feel that I will be able to say something useful. PRAY, WHAT CLAY, AND HOW ? What is the best clay? If there was an absolute answer to this question, and if I knew what it was, I would write it here, settling the question for all time and becoming one of the world's great heroes, like Johnny Appleseed. But of course there is no one best clay, there are hundreds of them, and this is fine; our problem is that we have been looking at them like the Five Blind Men of Pakistan examining the Elephant. It is time we started taking a broader view. At least we should be able to distinguish what constitutes GOOD. Simply, a good clay is one that will enable a competent potter to easily and economically do what he has set out to do. [If all potters were doing the same thing in the same way, if they were all of the same technical ability and temperament, all from the same background, if in fact they were all identical images of one another, good clay to one would be good clay to any other. But, we are not identical, we don't want to be identical and we couldn't be identical if we wanted to. There is now and there always will be a need for a great variety of good clays. The contemporary pottery field is dominated by three main body types: low-fire red, stoneware and fireclay. Porcelain and low-fire white are not in such general use and "earthenware" and "'terra-cotta" are restricted terms referring to applications of the three main types. Regardless of the kind of clay being used, certain standards of judge- ment are common, "feel" and "look" are not good enough, they must fill specific requirements for each stage of the process. In judging a clay we must be sure that we are making reasonable demands of it, this in itself requires experience and know ledge.