Small meals at short intervals are infinitely better than heavy meals at long intervals, and if a young kitten is left for many hours till half famished, it will in all probability eat too much and suffer in consequence. From four to ten weeks six or seven meals in the twenty-four hours are none too many. 1 am presuming that till that age they will be with their mother at night, which will do away with the necessity of providing food between 9 p.m. (when the last meal should be given) and 8 a.m. Give always a light and warm meal for the breakfast. After ten weeks lessen to five meals, after three months tour, and give four till six months old, when they may be fed as adults, unless one should be delicate or has been through severe illness.

The best test of a properly thriving kitten is its weight, and 1 lb. for each month of age is a fair average, occasionally exceeded by very big-boned and robust kittens. For young growing kittens a teaspoonful of limewater added to a saucer of any liquid is very advisable, as it strengthens the limbs and forms bone. If a kitten under a month or six weeks old is unfortunate enough to have a severe illness, whether epidemic or accidental, my advice is to chloroform it. At so tender an age the constitution rarely recovers from the strain.

Although this article has no intention of encroaching upon that treating specially of diseases, our aim and object being to rear such healthy sturdy families of kittens that they shall never have any diseases, vet, en passant, it might not be amiss to remark what a valuable medicine for the first symptoms of distemper is Pacita, a herbal medicine that can be obtained in both powder and pill form. The latter is to be preferred, as, the smell being very nasty, kittens rebel against it. Half of No. 1 size pill is sufficient for a kitten under three months, to be given fasting in the morning an hour before food for three mornings. It reduces fever and clears the system in a wonderful manner.

The question of outdoor exercise must now be discussed. 1 speak of summer kittens only. Winter kittens - viz. those born from November to February - are, I think, a mistake. Out of season, like forced green peas at Christmas, they have not a good start in life ; the damp and darkness of those months is very deterrent upon young life. Nature's plan of arranging for the new lives to come chiefly in the spring when days are lengthening and sunshine has power, is the wisest. They grow with the days, and have the summer to romp through and grow big and strong before the leaves fall. It is a mistaken policy - that of exposing to risks under the intention of hardening. We must remember that the Persian cat is an exotic, and that the present system of breeding for coat and show points does not tend to make the race hardier; on the contrary, probably the constitution is more delicate than in its native country, imported cats invariably boasting a vigour and hardihood that our pedigree specimens sadly lack. It is not cold that injures ; frost and snow can be borne by grown-up Persians with impunity, and even enjoyment.

It is the damp that kills, and upon consideration we shall see that this is largely a question of coat.

Mrs. Bonny's "Dame Fortune." (Photo : L.R. Stickells, Cranbrook.)

Mrs. Bonny's "Derebie." (Photo : L. R, Stickells, Cranbrook.)

Look at your English sleekly groomed puss as she comes leaping across some dewy field in the early morning, pressing through a thick, wet hedge. She gives herself a shake; examine her fur : not a dewdrop has adhered, hardly are her pads damp. Now pick up your Persian gentleman who has taken a slight hunting stroll through the same ground : his stomach fur is soaked, clinging like wet linen to him; his "knickerbockers" are disreputable, his frill clammy ; and it will take him a good hour to get himself clean and respectable once more. The soft woolly under-coat of the Persian holds water like a sponge, where the close short coat of the British cat shakes it off as from duck's feathers. This is the true secret of the delicacy of the Persian. So in rearing kittens, let your first care be, avoid damp.

A sick kitten generally forgets its manners, however carefully it has been trained to the use of the dry earth or sawdust box ; it seems to feel too bad to care how it behaves, so due allowance must be made at the time; but in health, cleanly behaviour must be insisted upon from the time they begin to trot about their nursery. Begin by placing a very shallow tray of nice dry fine earth in one or two corners that the kittens seem to have a predilection for ; it may even be necessary to put them in all four corners for a little while to convince some obstinate or dullard member of the family.

A cat's confidence is harder to win than a dog's, but once you have gained it the animal will trust you implicitly, and will bear pain or nasty dosing at your hands without resentment. I think kittens should be handled from early days. I do not advocate a valuable kitten being sent up to a humar nursery, to be hugged flat or carried head downwards by the too-adoring occupants; but kittens should be thoroughly accustomed to human society and to being picked up, caressed, and handled. It will make their subsequent show career far less of a terror, and greatly augment their chances of success; and in the case of all male cats, whether for stud or neuter, it is very convenient to train them to walk on a lead. Begin by using a light ribbon, and two kittens led together on separate leads will come more willingly than one. The first lessons in walks might terminate at the feeding dish, so that the kits would quickly associate this new form of exercise with something to eat.

It sometimes happens that young kittens are too early bereft of maternal care from some cause or other. Mr. A. Ward, of Manchester, has invented an artificial foster-mother (see page 343). This consists of a glass vessel covered with flannel, and having indiarubber teats. This is filled with warm milk and water, and the kittens help themselves!