240 PONDS AND LAKES. 



sassafras, dogwood, red cedar, pepperidge, hickory, etc. 

 Of course, such plants frequently died, and if they did live 

 assumed a stunted form. As an old farmer of the neigh- 

 borhood subsequently expressed it : " Well, I knowed 

 them things you set out would die. I could have told you 

 beforehand that crowded woods plants have poor roots. 

 But then, you would n't have believed me if I had. Your 

 plants just up and died because a full dose of sunshine 

 did not suit their shady constitutions." Considering this 

 mania, yoii will not be surprised to hear that I visited 

 a pond in the woods near by and dug up and transplanted 

 to my own pond a large number of roots of white water- 

 lilies. Other water-plants were naturally secured subse- 

 quently in the same way. I need hardly say, after the 

 above remarks of the farmer, that my water-lilies did not 

 specially thrive. The lily-roots had not been grown for 

 transplanting and were not, in most cases, young and 

 thrifty, and the soil of the bottom of the stream or pond 

 was not rich and suited to water-plants. However, among 

 the numerous water-plants I set out, many lived. They 

 were strung along a straight, monotonous shore that I had 

 dug out to a line to secure a neat appearance. I learned in 

 after days that this arrangement was about as bad as could 

 be imagined from a good lawn-planter's standpoint. The 

 lilies and other water-plants grew slowly and the flowers 

 were small. I had finally to acknowledge that my lily-pond 

 and stream was not a success. As a result my interest in 

 the plantation soon flagged, and except to gather a few 

 lilies I seldom visited it. Weeds sprung up to its surface 

 and drifted material made it untidy and unhealthy-looking. 



