A, the sleeping-room; B, a playroom for queens and kittens; and C, the third apartment for kittening, or cats it is desirable to isolate awhile. The smaller houses at the outside ends reserved for stud cats. D, doors from one apartment to another of wood. The outside woodwork is of 1-inch feather-edged matchboarding, well-seasoned deal, a roof of wood, felted and tarred, being preferable to the use of corrugated iron, which is very hot in summer and very cold in winter; an annual dressing of sand and tar keeps the felt watertight for many years. Allow good wide eaves, and have gutter pipes all round. Inside, line the walls with wall felt, and limevvash; or an inner lining of 1-inch matchboarding, allowing a two-inch space to be packed with sawdust, keeps the house very warm and dry.

For the brick back wall, ¼-inch matchboarding should be sufficient as lining. The dimensions of the sleeping-room, A, are 12 feet long by 11 feet wide, and a wire frame partition with door subdivides this again into two equal parts. ! Against the back wall, at a height of about 20 inches from the floor, runs a broad shelf 4 feet wide, having inch-mcsh wire netting frontage, half to open on hinges, and movable wooden partitions sliding in a slot; these for the sleeping-pens, each 4 feet deep by 3 feet wide, two on either side the wire frame partition, or convertible into one 4 feet by 6 by removal of sliding wooden division. It will be warmer for the occupants if these pens are roofed in at a height of 3 feet. Cover the bench with oilcloth before putting up the divisions. This can be washed over daily if necessary, and will dry in a few moments, thus avoiding the dangers of scrubbing wood in damp weather. As nothing offensive can soak in, a pure atmosphere is preserved, and risk of infection is greatly minimised.

A comfortable sleeping box or basket should be provided for each pen, filled in winter with plenty of sweet hay, and in summer with sheets of newspaper or brown paper. A cat loves to repose on paper, and it has the advantage of being cheaply renewable and easily burnt after a day or two's use. Never use old packing straw for bedding. It is frequently full of infectious germs, and many skin complaints have been traced to its use. Neither are cushions, blankets, old bits of carpet, matting, etc., to be recommended. They are apt to become damp in prolonged wet weather, and retain both dirt and odour. A sanitary tin to hold dry earth or sawdust should be placed in each cat house, emptied and washed out every morning by the attendant, when the floors are also swept out or washed over.

A fair-sized window, to open, must be in the front, and a door, the upper half of which might also be of glass, to open out into a gravel run. Outside wooden shutters for cold nights are a great help in keeping the house warm, and should be provided.

Having arranged our first room, the playing room, B, next must come under consideration. This being the central division, the felt lining could here be dispensed with, and instead the boards can either be plainly stained and varnished - which is also easy to keep perfectly clean - or Willesden damp-proof paper might be nailed over the walls. This paper, made at the Willesden Company's works, Willesden Junction, N. W., is made in several good colours for interior lining, and a house so hung looks very comfortable, and shows to advantage such mural decorations as show prize cards, photos of winners, etc. The frontage of this room is to be entirely glazed, in small panes set in a wooden framework, with a 6-inch high weather board at floor to protect from draughts, the glass protected on the inside by wire netting fastened over it. A window here to open outwards with a bolt, and fairly high up, to ensure fresh air in rainy weather without the wet and damp driving in on a level with the cats; a half-glass door also to run, but no outside shutters will be here needed, the cats not occupying this room at night.

Cover the asphalt floor with linoleum or oilcloth, and put up some shelves 15 inches wide, fairly high up, but within leaping distance, against the walls; a movable bench too, to place the cats upon for brushing and attending to them. Old chairs that can be spared from the house might end their service here; or if the luxury of a plain wicker chair could be permitted, and furnished with one or two cushions in washable slip covers, it would be as pleasant for the owner when making her visits as for the pussies themselves. A ball for the kittens, a reel hanging from a string, will stimulate healthy romps, even amongst the staid grown-up cats, when weary of indoor dozing.

Room C C is primarily intended for the interesting occasions when new little prizewinners are expected. This is subdivided by wire as in sleeping-room, but the partition three feet from back wall should be of wood, to ensure privacy to the anxious mother, and to temper the light; oilcloth on floor.

For the littering nests themselves I describe, and advise my friends to make trial of, the following plan. Have a sort of shallow wooden box, or tray with sides, made about 4 feet 6 inches long by 24 inches high and 4-inch sides. This is stained, varnished, and mounted on wooden feet at the four corners about two inches high; a good bed of hay is put in it, the box is put in a quiet corner away from the light, and a truss of new straw placed upright at one end of the box, leaning against the angle of the wall. A little of the straw at the bottom may be pulled out to suggest the idea of a hole to the cat; but as a rule she takes to the notion brilliantly, and will set to work to dig out a nest for herself with the greatest zest. In this the kittens are born, safe in a cosy nest at the end of a tunnel of straw. There is ample ventilation; they are protected from all draughts, so that doors may be left open to the fresh air with impunity; and they are in the dark, as kittens naturally should be till they walk out into the daylight of their own desire to explore the world.