Water Gardens for Everybody— By Thomas McAdam 



New 

 Jersey 



SOME POPULAR FALLACIES EXPLODED — MAKING AN AQUATIC BASIN THAT WILL NOT LEAK — FIFTEEN 

 DISTINCT KINDS OF WATER GARDENING — THE APPROPRIATE VARIETIES OF PLANTS FOR EACH 



THE main item of cost in a water-lily 

 garden is the pond. People will persist 

 in thinking that there must be something 

 mysterious about it — as if it were electrical 

 or dangerous. There is nothing occult 

 about digging dirt or mixing Portland cement. 



^i^giSs! 



342. A nalure«lihe water garden in the most 

 crowded city in America. How small a space is 

 necessary to make a picture of perfect wildness ! 



If you are willing to do all the work your- 

 self you may have two good-sized water-lily 

 plants (to say nothing of iris, etc.) growing 

 in an 8x12 clay-bottom pool at a cost of 

 two or three dollars, whereas your neighbor 

 who hires everything done will have spent 

 twenty-five or thirty dollars. 



POPULAR FALLACIES ABOUT WATER LILIES 



That it costs a fortune to cultivate them. 

 That you must have running water. 

 That they must all have artificial heat. 

 That they need deep water. 

 That they are difficult to raise. 

 That they are a menace to health. 

 That the natural soil of streams is best 

 for them. 



There are thousands of people who can 

 make an artificial pond with little cost beyond 

 that of excavation because the soil will hold 

 water or because they have water enough and 

 to spare. But if water costs money or the 

 bottom leaks, the water garden is a sure 

 disturber of domestic peace. 



THE TWO KINDS OF ARTIFICIAL POND 



There are two kinds of water-tight bottoms 

 for basins of aquatic plants — cement and 

 clay — and the latter is not cheaper unless 

 the clay costs nothing and the hauling can 

 be done by one's own teams. It is rarely 

 safe to have this clay layer less than a foot 

 thick. Every bit of it must be tamped, while 

 wet, and it is best to ram it every time the 

 weather is favorable for a period of three 

 or four weeks. If horses are allowed to 

 get on it they may break through the crust 

 and cause embarrassing leaks. There is 

 always a contractor in one's neighborhood 

 who will estimate without charge the cost 

 of excavation, and usually, too, some one who 

 can estimate brick work. The ideal pond, 

 so far as avoiding trouble is concerned, is 

 one with a cement bottom, and if you have 

 no gravel or native stone on the place with 

 which to make a four-inch layer of concrete, 

 you should figure on brick. Whatever the 

 concrete, it has to be faced with an inch 

 layer of Portland cement. If there is danger 

 that all the water will freeze solid, the 

 masonry must be protected from the crack- 

 ing in winter by six inches or more of litter, 

 such as autumn leaves, or any other non- 

 conducting material. Water-lily roots must 

 never be allowed to freeze. It is safe to con- 

 struct a twenty-five dollar water garden 

 with the aid of the free booklets on water- 

 lily culture given by dealers. 



Two of the most surprising features of 

 water-lily culture are the shallowness of 

 the water and the artificial character of the 

 soil. Three feet is deep enough for the 

 centre of a pond and twelve to eighteen inches 

 is the standard depth for the larger part 



345. A country gentleman's water garden, such 

 as anyone may have by transforming a mudhole or 

 mosquito-breeding swamp. Goldfish eat the wrigglers 



of the basin. The excavation must be deeper 

 than this, however, because of the water- 

 tight layer and the six-inch stratum of soil 

 in which the plants are to grow. The water 

 should be shallow because you will want to 

 wade in with hip boots on, in order to set 

 out new plants, check those that are too 

 rampant, cut flowers and gather seeds. If 

 the pond is less than twelve feet in diameter 

 you can simply lay a plank across whenever 

 it is necessary to perform any of the opera- 

 tions just mentioned. 



A SINGULAR FACT ABOUT SOIL 



As to soil, it doesn't pay to imitate nature. 

 One would suppose that muck and autumn 

 leaves would be the proper thing, but there 



343. Lotus can be naturalized on a large scale in 

 the latitude of New YorK if the water does not freeze 

 solid. The roots can be covered with autumn leaves. 

 They will not .freeze under a foot of running water 



vater garden, showing 



J36_ 



344. Part of a greenhous 

 (he brilli&nt lemon-yellow water poppy (Limnochans 

 Humboldtii), with flowers about three inches across. 

 One of the best minor aquatics. 



266 



346. Victoria regia, with its wonderful upturned 

 leaf margins. A man can sometimes stand on a leaf 

 without sinking it. Grown in the Missouri Botanical 

 Garden, St. Louis, without artificial heat 



