IN FLORIDA 77 
may be planted about it if there is not already sufficient shade. 
It may be made any length and width but, for the most part, I 
think it should not be over twenty feet wide if it is to be used 
wholly for shade loving plants. The outlines should be quite 
irregular,—in fact irregularity is to be the watchword throughout. 
A good plan would be to widen each end and leave the middle 
narrower. In such a case a small footpath could be worked 
out down one end or side, carried along the water, leaving in 
front of part of it a bit of beach; then it could be carried up 
the other end where a seat could be worked out in the rock. 
From such a seat one would have a pretty view along its whole 
length. And the whole could be made so irregular that neither 
seat nor path would be at all conspicuous. 
As the rock is taken out shelves and pockets should be freely 
left, and rich earth, composed largely of leaf mold, ought to be 
put in to receive the plants. It may be necessary in places to 
build up low walls of rock in front of the shelves but this can 
be done so as to look natural. I have growing on the sides of 
my upper pool a few terrestrial orchids which are doing well, 
especially Phaias grandiflorus. 
I am a most enthusiastic believer in fern pools and would 
urge every one who has a place and cultivates ornamentals to 
make one or more if possible. Even if there is no rock where 
you want to make one it would pay to haul it from some distance 
and build up irregular walls inside an excavation. If no trees 
are at hand to furnish shade one could plant quick growing 
species which in a very short time would furnish ample shelter. 
It will be necessary to clean out the mud and leaves which 
accumulate in the bottom of pools occasionally and this will 
make good mulching. In dry weather the plants will probably 
need an occasional spraying with water until they are established. 
If the pool is made in land which is liable to be flooded some kind 
of drainage will have to be provided, an open ditch or under- 
ground tiling. 
In the southeastern part of the state where the soft limestone 
strata come to the surface everywhere the rock has been blasted 
out in places and used for making roads, thus leaving unsightly 
_ pits and excavations which are a great blemish on the landscape. 
