CONDITIONS OF LIGHT, ETC. 



screened by the window curtains; and arranged on a cord and pulley for 

 raising to the desired height. If the pipe is closed to a very small open- 

 ing above the water level, five gallons of water should be sufficient to cause 

 a fine fountain play for probably an hour. The overflow may be carried 

 out of the aquarium in the corner, and a half-inch rubber tube through 

 the trim of the window would lead it outside, or it may be collected in a 

 vessel under the aquarium. This device was successfully used in swamp- 

 aquaria. 



Many other ingenious aerating devices have been produced, but the 

 simplest and most efficient are those here given. 



SOIL FOR AQUATIC PLANTS 



Experts in the maintenance of the freshwater aquarium favor the use 

 of soil in shallow pots under the pebbles into which to root the aquatic plants, 

 the result being always satisfactory. For this purpose clean turf, directly 

 from under the roots of lawn grass, is the best, not garden earth or potting 

 soil. Aquatic plants rooted in turf grow with vigor and there is less like- 

 lihood of its fermenting or decomposing, to cause disturbances in the 

 aquarium, as may be the case with the rich potting soil, when used in con- 

 siderable quantity. For plants required as oxygenators, the turf may be 

 used in pots, but for those with floating leaves in out-of-door tanks a 

 richer compost is necessary, as both the lilies and water-poppies are rank 

 feeders and require a large quantity of rich soil, frequently renewed. The 

 compost prepared by gardeners for this use consists of turf and some well- 

 rotted cow manure, a little ground bone and about a quart each of pond soil 

 and clean sand, the whole to about fill a bushel measure. This should be 

 packed about the roots of the lilies and poppies, covered with clean turf and 

 a thin layer of pebbles and set into pails of water for a few days, that it 

 may "set" and expel the generating gases before introduction Into the 

 tanks. Water-poppies, water-clover and the potamogetons will thrive in 

 the aquarium in turf, but experience has taught the aquarilst that Sagittaria 

 nutans and Anacharis canadensis gigantea, the best oxygenators, will grow 

 more vigorously when set directly into the pebbles and sand; for when 

 the roots do not have much nutrition they serve principally to anchor the 

 plants and consume the humus. The leaf blades will perform the func- 

 tions of roots, grow more rapidly and assume a finer pale-green color. 

 The plants are less likely to develop blossoms and seeds and will not as soon 

 exhaust themselves or deteriorate, the propagation of Sagittaria then being 

 by rhizomes or offshoots, the desired "runners" of the aquarilst. It is 

 also advisable to remove their floating floral leaves and the flower stalk, as 

 the plants usually die after ripening the seeds. 



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