240 



OF THE AQUARIUM. 



As suitable places are prepared for the plants 

 of the hill and dale, so also must a situation be 

 found for the vegetable inhabitants of the lake or 

 river. A large basin of water in a garden is 

 always an useful appendage, independent of its 

 utility as a station for water plants. If supplied 

 by a fountain, or artesian well, it may be parti- 

 cularly useful ; as always affording soft and tepid 

 water for every purpose of the gardener, and 

 peculiarly suitable for aquatics that are rather 

 tender, and also for gold and silver fish. They 

 are usually made of a circular or any other 

 regular form; the sides of brick- work, with a 

 hewn stone coping, and on a subsoil impervious 

 to water, or made so by puddled clay. The 

 back of the brick-work should also be puddled, 

 to prevent leakage. 



If this feature can be introduced in a nook or 

 recess of the lapidium, it will be perfectly na- 

 tural, as well as suitable. 



