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. 



