42 LANDSCAPE GARDEN SERIES 



be at least eighteen inches deep, in order to allow six inches for water 

 plants with twelve inches above them. Shallow tubs may be used for 

 the water plants, or rocks may be placed in the concrete when it is 

 fresh to form a tub, the tub to be filled with soil when the time to plant 

 the water plants arrives. If aquatic soil cannot be secured, good rich 

 loam, with one-third well-decayed cow manure, will serve as a good 

 substitute. The hardy water plants need not be removed in the winter, 

 but the pool should be drained and then filled with straw. 



One often objects to a pool for fear they will breed mosquitos. 

 There should be no turning upon this score, for with the addition of 

 gold fish, mosquito larvae cannot live to maturity. 



The upper edges of the pool should be constructed as shown in the 

 accompanying diagram, (Fig. 20), for this will be the secret of the 

 success of your pool. If aquatic or bog plants are not used all around 

 the pool, the intervening spaces should be sodded ; thus the concrete 

 will not be seen and the pool will present a very natural appearance. 

 The construction of such a pool would vary little from the directions 

 given for constructing a formal pool. When the hole is dug, the 

 ground will serve as a form for the pool if it is carefully leveled. ' The 

 outlet of the pool, which is usually a pipe, should have a connection 

 at the bottom in order that when it is unscrewed the pool will drain. 



The cost of such a pool as the above is governed by the ease with 

 which the piping connections can be made as well as the area of the 

 pool. Very charming little pools on this order have been constructed 

 and the water plants secured, for the sum of twenty-five dollars; and 

 from this they may of course run up to almost any amount. But if 

 you want the water simply for the sake of growing a few water plants, 

 if you do not care for it as a garden feature itself,- even the ex- 

 pense of a tiny pool may be avoided by the simple expedient of sinking 

 a half-keg or the half of a hogshead into the ground. Such a "pool" 

 is perfectly practical, horticulturally speaking, and many :fc)lendid 

 specimens of water plants are cultivated in precisely this way. 



Where the open water surface is desired, on the other hand, a 

 pool of the sort herein described, is, of course, necessary. Then be 

 careful that you do not overplant it and thus lose the effect of water, 

 which is lost if completely grown over, even though you have a quantity 

 of it. 



