RECREATION. 



117 



FANWORT (Caboma.)\ 



unnatural looking toys most people pu>t 

 in the aquarium. No ; there it is. A 

 natural water formation called tuff- 

 stone." 



" On one side of it you will notice little 

 fossil snails thousands of years old." 



" Where are you going to put those 

 Italian water plants you showed me the 

 other day, ma'am ? " 



" Oh, yes, my vallisneria. I shall place 

 them just here, near the front glass, but 

 they will not grow well in sand, so I 



will show you 

 a little aqua- 

 rium trick. In 

 these small glass 

 ointment pots 

 the druggist let 

 me have, I shall 

 put some of the 

 mud they grew 

 in ; place the 

 roots in it so, 

 and some sand 

 and little stones 

 over it like that, 

 and then sink 

 the pots out of 

 sight in the bot- 

 tom sand that 



willow moss. wa Y- Ever y one 



{Fontinalis.) will wonder why 



my vallisneria flower so well indoors. 

 Don't you tell, Harry." 



" Never, but why don't you just tie a 

 stone around the plants and drop them 

 in the water like I do?" 



"That would never do, my dear boy, it 

 stops the circulation of sap, and all the 

 leaves drop off in a little while. I find 

 it makes the plants grow and look better 

 to place them separately, with little peb- 

 bles on the roots to keep them down, 

 and then cover the pebbles with damp 

 sand." 



"I see, but what are you going to put 

 in this corner? It looks awful bare." 



"In the right ? This fine Anacharis, 

 you remember, don't you ? This is the 

 plant that has those funny little hydra on 

 it and all sorts of tiny water ani " 



TUFFSTONE. 



"Why, what's that, ma'am? See it! 

 It's walking right off in the water there. 

 Gee ! what a long train it has." 



" That is one of the animals now. It 

 is the caddis, and a very industrious 

 person she is. In the spring she builds 

 the funniest case you ever saw. Don't 

 you remember, Harry, reading about 

 her in "Water Babies?" How little 

 Tom sometimes went into a still corner 

 to watch the caddises eating dead 

 sticks, as greedily as you would eat 

 plum-pudding, and building their houses 

 with silk and glue. Very fanciful ladies 

 they were. One would begin with some 

 pebbles, then she would stick on a piece 

 of green wood; then she found a shell 

 and stuck it on top and the poor shell 

 was alive; then she stuck on a piece of 



