_Water._--A daily supply of fresh clean water is indispensable to the health of fowls. Many diseases are caused by their drinking from stagnant ditches and the impure and filthy drainings of manure heaps, &c. A cheap fountain, the best that I have ever seen, inasmuch as it is capable of being cleansed internally, may be made out of any wide-mouth earthenware jar and common glazed flower-pot saucer; by boring a small hole in the jar, an inch or an inch and a half from the edge, then filling it with water, putting the saucer on the top, bottom upwards, and quickly turning them both together upside down, when the water will be found to flow into the saucer to the height of the hole in the jar. BREEDING. Much variety of opinion prevails respecting the best mode of constructing the nests for laying and sitting hens. In this, as in all other cases, the nearer we can imitate nature the better; I object to the rows of pigeon-holes so frequently employed, as the close crowding of the fowls harbours vermin, and renders it difficult to thoroughly clean the nests after the eggs are hatched, and believe it will be found more conducive to health and comfort if the nests are quite distinct from each other, and are so formed that they can be entirely removed after the chicken are hatched. The plan that I have found to answer best is to use shallow baskets or boxes, which can be partially filled with sifted coal ashes, road drift, sand, or any similar material; on this a little short straw is placed, and the hen hollows out a slight concavity, which prevents the eggs rolling from under her, and in this way a very good imitation of a natural nest is obtained. The ashes do not harbour vermin, and I have found that eggs hatch much better than in those nests made solely of straw. Care should be taken so nearly to fill the basket or box that the hen can leave without having to spring up from the eggs, and can return without jumping down upon them, otherwise there is great risk of their being broken. Should the hen be particularly fearful, a board placed in a slanting position over the basket with the upper end leaning against the wall, will afford all the privacy required. It is desirable that hens should be allowed to sit where they have been previously laying, as there is usually much trouble, except in the case of Cochins, in inducing a hen to sit steadily in a new nest. Hens evince a strong desire to lay where there are other eggs, hence nest eggs are usually employed; they are frequently made of chalk, but from the hardness of the material they are apt to break the new laid egg; soft white wood, turned into the required shape, makes the best that I have seen, as it does not break the eggs or lose its shape, and is capable of being easily washed, if soiled. Natural eggs are not desirable for nest eggs, as they are very apt to break when they become stale, and so render the nest exceedingly foul.