14G 
AQUARIUMS AND AQUATIC PLANTS. 
tion you can find for effect, due regard being 
had for the conveyance of the water in pipes, 
and to the level of the water to be thus sup- 
plied. In the construction of ponds there are 
many different modes of keeping in the water. 
The most objectionable and expensive is lead, 
yet it is very commonly used in limited struc- 
tures. The nature of the ground must, in 
some measure, determine. If it be open and 
porous, nothing will be more durable than 
puddling, which is nothing more nor less than 
lining it with very stiff clay, and of a good 
thickness : for if it be not thick, it will give 
way, and the water will all escape. Sup- 
posing it to be, as we have said, porous, dig it 
out three feet six inches deep in the middle, 
and gradually becoming shallower as it ap- 
proaches the edge, which should be eighteen 
inches deep ; stiff clay, as it is dug, moist but 
not wet, should be thrown in, in sufficient 
quantity to make a good thick stratum all over 
the bottom. This has to be rammed down 
with wooden rammers, made with straight 
round pieces of timber, as thick as four inches 
through, rather rounded at the bottom, and 
cut so as to handle well at the upper end ; and 
several hands ought to be employed at this 
ramming, occasionally wetting it when it is 
not sufficiently moist, and keeping a pail of 
water to dip the rammer in to prevent it 
sticking. In this way j'ou cover the bottom 
with well-wrought malleable clay. Continue 
adding to this and ramming it in, until you 
have eovered the bottom a foot thick all over, 
which will make the middle two feet six inches 
deep, and the edge come off to nothing ; for 
the clay must be brought up to the edge of 
the intended water, the level of which must 
be preserved by a drain close to the top, or a 
pipe through which superfluous water may 
run off. It is almost impossible to work the 
clay too much by the ramming process ; for if 
the pores be not closed well the water will 
find its way through. As soon as it has been 
rammed sufficiently, and smoothed pretty well, 
it may be left to dry ; and if the clay be worked 
enough, it will dry without cracking. If, how- 
ever, there should be a disposition to crack, 
which will be seen before it has dried much, 
it will be necessary to ram it still more all 
over ; and the second time you must trust it 
only a day or two, and before it has shrunk, 
let in the water. If you have a good supply, 
and it comes from any height, you may add a 
fountain to your other ornaments, or let it 
come trickling down the rocks, or use any other 
graceful and natural means of admitting it ; 
and if it has to come from a dead level, or 
near it, it will be better to admit it unseen, 
because no advantage is gained by seeing how 
it is supplied. On the bottom of this pond 
ma}' be cast about as much soil as would cover 
it nearly three inches at the bottom, and gradu- 
ally lessen as it comes to the edge ; this soil 
should be gravel and peat, equal parts, and 
good loam, equal to both. This affords some- 
thing for the roots of plants to take hold of 
when they escape from the pots, or balls of 
earth, or baskets, in which they are first planted 
or sown. With regard to the management of 
the plants, little is required beyond a good 
choice, properly introduced. Some will have 
to be sown in pots, and the pots sunk ; others 
only want their seed thrown in the pond, and 
will find their way to the bottom, and there 
vegetate; but each of the plants must be 
treated according to its nature. If the pond 
is made of very small dimensions, it will not 
do to form the bottom smooth ; a portion of 
the middle must be flat, and the depth of two 
feet ; round this there must be a ledge six 
inches shallower, and round that another, 
forming something like stairs at the bottom, 
because in a smaller pond the form would 
otherwise be that of a deep basin, and the soil 
would wash down to the centre, and leave the 
sides little else than the bare clay: by making 
flat shelves one above another this will be pre- 
vented. In ponds of small size, it will be 
found better to brick and cement the bottom 
and sides, but the form may be preserved 
much the same as the clay bottom, and if the 
bricks be well laid in cement, the bottom will 
be very durable ; the soil should be laid in for 
the plants just the same, and they will not 
require different treatment. There should be 
a walk round the pond. On the side next the 
rockery there should be a good twelve inches 
between the edge of the path and the bottom 
of the rocks. In this border, which may be 
peat, and sunk below the path, bog plants may 
grow ; and between the inner edge of the path 
and the water there may be a verge of plants, 
of the most dwarf and interesting kind, adapted 
for such damp situations. If the aquarium be 
fowled by taking a piece off a larger space of 
water, you, as it were, enclose it by the rock- 
worlj on the water side ; and it would add 
greatly to the effect if there be an opening in 
the rocks, not quite to the top, but the rocks 
forming a kind of natural arch, under which 
the larger expanse of water may be seen. In 
this case, it will be necessary to form a break 
in the path, over which a gothic bridge, or 
something fanciful, must be thrown to connect 
the walk, or you would have to return, instead 
of going quite round. These aquariums, when 
aided by being judiciously adapted to the situ- 
ation, and well furnished with rock-plants, are 
very pretty features in all gardens, and espe- 
cially where the supply of water enables us to 
render even that subservient to a fanciful 
arrangement for its admission. 
The sketch of the fountain, cascades, and 
