u6 The American Flower Garden 



has grown and decomposed, slowly piling layer on layer, that the 

 interesting insectivorous plants have their home -- pitcher plants, 

 Venus s fly-trap, butter-wort, sundew, and many of the shyest, 

 loveliest orchids. Water in a sphagnum bog is the purest of the 

 pure, containing no bacteria, and as its moss is so poor in nitrogen 

 we now understand why some of its denizens must either get that 

 element through an insect diet, or, like the bog-loving members 

 of the heath and orchid families, secure their nourishment from 

 decaying organic matter. Which is to say that they, in common 

 with the ghoulish Indian pipe, pine sap and mushrooms are what 

 botanists call &quot;partial saprophites&quot; -a far more respectable class 

 than out and out parasites to which the murderous mistletoe and 

 dodder belong. 



In the making bf a wholly artificial pond of any considerable 

 size that is desired to have the appearance of a natural sheet of 

 water, so much digging and grading will be necessary, so much 

 mixing of cement or puddling of clay to make a water-tight layer 

 on the bottom and sides of it, so much preparation of good, rich, 

 heavy soil for planting in, that only the most zealous lover of 

 aquatic plants should attempt one; only a rich man can afford one, 

 and no one less than a genius can give an entirely artificial water- 

 garden the semblance of sincerity and perfect naturalness. A 

 natural hollow in the land, deep enough to allow the addition of 

 more than a foot of rich soil, will save an excavator s bill; a 

 spring or any water supply in the vicinity that will prevent 

 a plumber s longer bill for piping is a boon, and the presence 

 of a bed of pure clay for puddling the pond will also save 

 dollars that one would so much more gladly give for shrubs, 

 hardy flowers and water lilies than for cement. 



After the gently curving outline of an artificial pond has been 



