SIMPLE CONSTRUCTION OF A CONCRETE POOL 
LINDLEY PYLE 
Ingenuity Devises an Earthen Mold by the Paradox of Not Excavating Until the Pool Is There! 
t TjgA ET no one deny himself the delights of a water-garden 
wT because of any supposed difficulties about simple and 
inexpensive water-tight cement pools! A year ago 
1 made a pool of thirty-five square feet surface area and 
twenty inches depth which has not only grown the water plants 
desired but has withstood the test of zero-weather winter. 
The shape and location of the pool-to-be were laid out with a 
rope representing the outline of it upon the ground. This was 
shifted until a satisfactory effect was arrived at. Then a cut 
straight down into the earth to a depth of two or three inches 
was made along the line of it with an old carving knife, followed 
by a second cut parallel to this and outside of it at a distance of 
approximately four inches. Then we took the rope away and 
removed the earth from between the two cuts. 
This trench was then deepened until it was three inches deeper 
than the depth of water desired for the pool — in other words 
twenty-three or -four inches deep. And as this trench was to serve 
as the mold for the casting of the cement wall in situ, the inner 
face of it was made vertical and smooth. 
With enough water 
added to a combination 
of four parts sand and 
one part cement, well 
mixed, 1 made a mixture 
which would pour readily. 
With this the trench was 
filled up to within one inch of the level of the surrounding earth 
and left for thirty-six hours. At the end of that time the earth 
enclosed by the hardened concrete walls was dug out to a depth 
corresponding to the bottom of the side walls. Sand and cement 
in the aforementioned proportionswere thendumped intothehole 
and thoroughly mixed, waterwas added in the properamount, and 
the mixture was smoothed into a three-inch depth of bottom or 
floor. Take great care to bring about a closeand tight connection 
of bottom with side walls as you do this, drawing the former 
up into a rounded union instead of making it a sharp angle. 
After a lapse of twenty-four hours the inside surface of the 
sides and bottom should be coated with a quarter-inch layer 
of pure cement mixed with water to bring it to the proper 
working consistency. And when this lining coat is perfectly 
dry, the water-tight pool may be filled with water and the chosen 
aquatic plants placed in position. 
It will be noticed that no provision is made for running water. 
The slight amount of water lost by evaporation is replaced 
once a week by use of a hose, and when 1 wish to empty the pool 
I use a garden hose as a syphon, the water flowing to a lower 
point in the garden. But 1 find it is well to leave the water 
in the pool throughout the winter, and the goldfish too for they 
will live through all right with no attention whatever. The 
merest trace of copper sulphate — 8 grains to 1,000 gallons of 
water is a proper amount — prevents summer growth of algae; 
and the gold fish devour any mosquito larvae. 
THE GLADIOLUS AND HOW TO GROW IT 
C. W. ELLENWOOD 
Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station 
One of the Most Satisfactory Flowers for Cutting, Also One of the Easiest to Grow 
IHE culture of the Gladiolus or Sword Lily is so simple 
that any one can grow good specimens with only a little 
WmM effort. And there has been so much improvement 
1 ■ J f ! 4-L 
„ „ ^ made in recent years in the quality of varieties that 
this has become one of the most cherished of summer and 
autumn flowers. For there have been developed nearly all 
shapes and colors of flowers from the many original species native 
to South Africa. 
It is better to start with the bulb, or properly speaking corm, 
than to attempt to use seed or cormels (bulblets). Growing 
Gladiolus from seed is interesting but not always satisfactory, 
as they do not come true from seed, while though the flowers 
are true to type — it ordinarily requires 2 or 3 years to get well 
started with cormels. I he best blooms are from corms at least 
an inch in diameter, with the exception of a few varieties which 
naturally produce weak corms. 
P LANT the corms in rows 3 feet apart and 4 or 5 inches 
apart in the row, covering with about 3 inches of well pul- 
verized dirt. Any good garden soil is satisfactory, but a light, 
