The Water Garden 119 



cause the death of your pet aquatics by drowning them. One 

 cannot prepare too carefully against such a disaster. A dam of 

 the most solid construction is the first essential. Open ditches 

 and ample drains that are really adequate outlets for the 

 water as fast as it enters in time of flood must be provided 

 for a pond that is supplied by a brook, but even an artificial 

 pond needs to have an outlet for the water which will become 

 stagnant and unhealthful if there is not some movement of it 

 at times, however slight. The perfectly balanced aquarium is 

 not made on so large a scale. 



Aquatics insist upon a very rich and rather heavy soil about 

 one-third cow manure to two parts of well rotted sods is not too 

 hearty a^iet for these voracious feeders. It has been noted that 

 flowers of especially fine colouring are produced where there is an 

 intermixture of pure clay with the soil. Wild water lilies may fare 

 well enough on decayed leaves and other vegetable matter in the 

 mucky bottoms of natural ponds, but the best results are not 

 obtained when this simple diet is offered the pampered darlings 

 of the French and American hybridisers. Lotuses withhold their 

 queenly flowers unless they are abundantly fed. Water poppies, 

 papyrus, flowering grasses, bamboo and other companions are not 

 so fastidious, but they, too, enjoy good living. 



In autumn, after the canvas for the picture has been prepared, 

 as it were, for the painter s brush, begin the planting by setting 

 out such hardy deciduous trees and shrubs as have been chosen 

 for a background. Evergreens, however, which make the most 

 effective windbreak, would better wait until late spring. At the 

 risk of harping too much upon one string, let it be said yet again 

 that the trees and shrubs that grow naturally in the neighbourhood, 

 and so fit in well with the surrounding landscape, are always the 



