money, it pays to take care of them.'"

"There's one thing I notice," said Miss Laura, "and that is that your
drinking fountains must be a great deal better than the shallow pans
that I have seen some people give their hens water in."

"Dirty things they are," said Mrs. Wood; "I wouldn't use one of them. I
don't think there is anything worse for hens than drinking dirty water.
My hens must have as clean water as I drink myself, and in winter I heat
it for them. If it's poured boiling into the fountains in the morning,
it keeps warm till night. Speaking of shallow drinking dishes, I
wouldn't use them, even before I ever heard of a drinking fountain. John
made me something that we read about. He used to take a powder keg and
bore a little hole in the side, about an inch from the top, then fill
it with water, and cover with a pan a little larger round than the keg.
Then he turned the keg upside down, without taking away the pan. The
water ran into the pan only as far as the hole in the keg, and it would
have to be used before more would flow in. Now let us go and see my
beautiful, bronze turkeys. They don't need any houses, for they roost in
the trees the year round."

We found the flock of turkeys, and Miss Laura admired their changeable
colors very much. Some of them were very large, and I did not like them,
for the gobblers ran at me, and made a dreadful noise in their throats.

Afterward, Mrs. Wood showed us some ducks that she had shut up in a
yard. She said that she was feeding them on vegetable food, to give
their flesh a pure flavor, and by-and-by she would send them to market
and get a high price for them.

Every place she took us to was as clean as possible. "No one can be
successful in raising poultry in large numbers," she said, "unless they
keep their quarters clean and comfortable."

As yet we had seen no hens, except a few on the nests, and Miss Laura
said, "Where are they? I should like to see them."

"They are coming," said Mrs. Wood. "It is just their breakfast time, and
they are as punctual as clockwork. They go off early in the morning, to
scratch about a little for themselves first."

As she spoke she stepped off the plank walk and looked off towards the
fields.

Miss Laura burst out laughing. Away beyond the barns the hens were
coming. Seeing Mrs. Wood standing there, they thought they were
late, and began to run and fly, jumping over each other's backs, and
stretching out their necks, in a