50 ORNAMENTAL GARDENING 
them of rough rock and cement, simply building them on the 
mud with only a slight enlargement of the base, and they have 
never cracked or settled in the least. The outside should be 
made as rough and irregular as possible, while the seat itself is 
made smooth and easy in which to sit. Below the seat the space 
is to be filled in with broken rock, pounded in so that it will not 
settle and two or three one-inch pins should be set up vertically 
in this. The cement in the seat bottom is to be smoothed around 
these and when it has set the pins are to be pulled out. This 
will allow the rainwater to drain out so that the seat will always 
be dry. If one has no rock, wooden seats can be made; the 
posts being driven deep into the mud. All seats should have a 
good rake back, rocking chair fashion. 
Open spaces may be left in low grounds which if mowed oc- 
casionally would have something the effect of a lawn. I do 
not as yet know of any grass that would answer for lawn in such 
locations but there is a succulent, half creeping plant (Monniera 
monniera) that grows in brackish and fresh water swamps from 
Maryland to Texas which, without any attention whatever, makes 
a lovely carpet in low, open places. This charming little plant 
bears its pale blue flowers in abundance throughout the greater 
part of the year and flourishes in much trodden places. 
I have made some experiments in planting my low grounds, 
some of which are very wet. The entire area is subject to oc- 
casional overflow from Biscayne Bay during hurricane tides, and 
I am surprised at the large number of things which do well or 
promise to do so. Undoubtedly this list might be greatly ex- 
tended but very good effects can be produced with the plants 
here mentioned. 
Among the palms all the species of Phoenix which I cultivate 
do excellently in brackish mud; a number of them being planted 
where they are surrounded with water during every unusually 
high tide. Here they grow with the greatest vigor, their leaves 
being of a rich, intense green and that without any fertilizer. 
The list includes P. reclinata, P. tenuis, P. farinifera, P. rupicola, 
P. cycadifolia, P. tomentosa, P. paradenia, P. paludosa, P. canari- 
ensis, P. pumila, P. humilis, P. senegalensis and P. melanocarpa. 
I have not tried P. sylvestris and P. dactylifera on low ground but 
believe they would succeed. All the Inodes (better known under 
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