CHAPTER, III. 



PLANTING THE RIVER GARDEN IN THE 

 AQUARIUM. 



HE very first plants placed picturesquely 

 ^ in an Aquarium produce an effect so 

 pleasing that the trouhle of structure, 

 the expense of purchase, are forgot- 

 ._ ten in a moment. The object at once 

 ?P forms, in fact, a most exquisite orna- 

 f- ment for a living room, and especially 

 a study. The cool, fresh aspect of water is always 

 delightful; and the peculiar growth of aquatic plants, 

 straggling in graceful spiral, or in a thousand other 

 singular and playful forms, towards the surface and 

 the light, are both beautiful and interesting, espe- 

 cially when seen as a fish would see them, that is, 

 sidewise, and not from the top, or looking down 

 upon them indistinctly, as is our ordinary point of 

 view for these objects. The gentle gliding move- 

 ments, too, of many of the water creatures, subse- 

 quently to be introduced, are of a soothing and 

 placid character, that seem to fill the mind with a 



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