
CONDITIONS OF LIGHT, ETC. 

screened by the window curtains; and arranged on a cord and pulley for 
raising to the desired height. If the pipe is closed to a very small open- 
ing above the water level, five gallons of water should be sufficient to cause 
a fine fountain play for probably an hour. ‘The overflow may be carried 
out of the aquarium in the corner, and a half-inch rubber tube through 
the trim of the window would lead it outside, or it may be collected in a 
vessel under the aquarium. This device was successfully used in swamp- 
aquaria. 
Many other ingenious aerating devices have been produced, but the 
simplest and most efficient are those here given. 
SOIL FOR AQUATIC PLANTS 
Experts in the maintenance of the freshwater aquarium favor the use 
of soil in shallow pots under the pebbles into which to root the aquatic plants, 
the result being always satisfactory. For this purpose clean turf, directly 
from under the roots of lawn grass, is the best, not garden earth or potting 
soil. Aquatic plants rooted in turf grow with vigor and there is less like- 
lihood of its fermenting or decomposing, to cause disturbances in the 
aquarium, as may be the case with the rich potting soil, when used in con- 
siderable quantity. For plants required as oxygenators, the turf may be 
used in pots, but for those with floating leaves in out-of-door tanks a 
richer compost is necessary, as both the lilies and water-poppies are rank 
feeders and require a large quantity of rich soil, frequently renewed. ‘The 
compost prepared by gardeners for this use consists of turf and some well- 
rotted cow manure, a little ground bone and about a quart each of pond soil 
and clean sand, the whole to about fill a bushel measure. This should be 
packed about the roots of the lilies and poppies, covered with clean turf and 
a thin layer of pebbles and set into pails of water for a few days, that it 
may “‘ 
set’ and expel the generating gases before introduction into the 
tanks. Water-poppies, water-clover and the potamogetons will thrive in 
the aquarium in turf, but experience has taught the aquariist that Sagttaria 
natans and Anacharis canadensis gigantea, the best oxygenators, will grow 
more vigorously when set directly into the pebbles and sand; for when 
the roots do not have much nutrition they serve principally to anchor the 
plants and consume the humus. The leaf blades will perform the func- 
tions of roots, grow more rapidly and assume a finer pale-green color. 
The plants are less likely to develop blossomsand seeds and will not as soon 
exhaust themselves or deteriorate, the propagation of Sagittaria then being 
by rhizomes or offshoots, the desired “runners” of the aquariist. It 1s 
also advisable to remove their floating floral leaves and the flower stalk, as 
the plants usually die after ripening the seeds. 
179 
