188 IVIAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN 



be used, or, if one prefers that effect, the top can be 

 laid in cobble or rocks. Either effect will be good, 

 but where smooth concrete is used in other parts of 

 the garden, walks, walls, seats, etc., the curb would 

 better conform to these. 



In the two-foot pool about one foot of good soil 

 is required, marsh earth and weU-rotted cow manure 

 being the best combination. Over this, after the lilies 

 are planted, an inch of clear white lake sand should be 

 spread. This will disappear during the summer, but 

 may be resurrected again the following spring by 

 peeling off the quarter of an inch of muck that wiU 

 have formed from the decay of vegetable matter and 

 the dust that has settled in the water. 



It is not necessary, however, that this foot of earth 

 be used as the lilies may be planted in large boxes of 

 cedar or galvanized iron tubs instead. These need 

 not be over a foot deep and should be filled with the 

 same soil used for the pool. There are certain advan- 

 tages in this mode of planting as it makes possible 

 the inspection of the bottom of the pool should a leat 

 occur. Leaks in a well-constructed pool are not usual, 

 but do occur sometimes, and in a pool filled with 

 earth it is very difficult to repair them when full of 

 growing plants. They seldom occur in the floor of the 

 pool, but rather at the angle and in the wall, and when 

 necessary to deal with them a trench must be dug 

 around the wall, inside the pool, first letting out all 



