84 Flow to obtain it. 
aquatic vegetation were planted as the water was nising, such a 
pond should never show a backward tendency as regards the fish 
with which it is stocked. The water plants should be in sufficient 
quantity to take the place of the decaying land plants. In many 
cases it is not necessary to fill the pond to its highest level at first, 
and, where it can be conveniently arranged, the height of the 
water should be raised at the end of the second year. Early 
spring is the best time for doing this. Should the pond have 
been filled in September or October it is still better, even at the 
end of two years, to wait until March before raising the level of 
the water. The object in view in doing this is to submerge the 
grass above the original margin. It has been found that such a 
course is often followed by very gratifying results, and the reason 
is not far to seek. The opportunity should be taken for 
introducing a further quantity of aquatic vegetation, and some of 
the marginal plants may require lifting and moving further back. 
They will not have spread very much in two years, and, therefore, 
the work is soon done. 
Since the necessity for vegetation in ponds has been made 
generally known, many owners of water, in their eagerness to have 
everything right, have introduced plants which, when allowed free 
scope, have increased to such an extent as to choke the water. In 
many cases this is very much due to a want of care in attending 
to them after planting. Many plants, if used at all, must be 
thinned out every year, from the second year, and sometimes 
from the first after introduction. This depends largely, of course, 
on the quantity planted in the first instance. But in any case 
such plants as Potamogeton, Myriophyllum, Anacharis, and others 
of a similar and free growing nature are better avoided altogether, 
unless it be intended that they shall be properly and carefully 
attended to. In their proper places these plants are valuable and 
are quite easily kept in order. But once neglect them, and let 
them get the upper hand, and a great amount of labour will have 
to be expended in order to bring them again within limits—and 
the labourers must understand their work or it will, after all, 
probably be a failure. 
We know how comparatively easy it is to keep a garden in 
order by attending to it at the right time, and how utterly 
