262 
Rustic Adornments . 
unscientific eyes. It was a home-made affair. We procured from the 
cellar a number of large pieces of coke, some of which were broken 
to afford ample choice of blocks of various forms and sizes. Those 
were preferred which had a somewhat rugged face, but which nevertheless 
were large and flat, giving plenty of linear surface, so as to be best adapted 
for building a wall of very moderate thickness. These were two or three 
times dipped into a thick batter of Portland cement, and were finally cemented 
together in blocks of suitable width for convenient lifting, with one or two 
empty flower-pots at the base and within every block. The flower-pots were 
used to create a flat basis, so that each block would rest on the bottom of the 
tank securely, and for the additional reason of the increased lightness of the 
blocks so constructed, the front being made solid and massive, yet hollow 
within, and the pots not at all or only slightly covered with rock on the sides 
intended to form the backs of the blocks. Thus a rugged wall was formed 
in a series of detached pieces, massive in appearance, yet of no greater weight 
than admitted of convenient lifting. Such a wall made of mica schist—which 
is the best of rocks for aquaria where its weight is of no consequence—would 
soon have ruined the tank, and perhaps have brought down tank and stand 
within a few hours of the first fitting. With coke and flower-pots you may 
build another Tower of Babel, and its weight would scarcely make an inden¬ 
tion on a newly-ploughed field. 
The rocks were, as soon as tolerably hard, placed in a large vessel of water. 
A tank in the garden, used for ordinary garden purposes, answered admirably 
for the soaking process that all newly-cemented work must undergo before it 
should be used in an aquarium. The only preparation the tank itself under¬ 
went was to colour the back, so that glimpses of the wall should not be seen 
through any possible interstices of the rockwork. We took some sheets of green 
tissue paper, smeared the back plate of the glass all over with copal varnish, 
pressed the paper smooth on it, and by that experiment determined that if it 
ever becomes needful to colour one side of a tank, the paper and varnish 
afford the most effectual method that can be adopted. In due time—a fort¬ 
night, perhaps, not less—the blocks were taken from the bath and placed in 
position. A bottom of clean well-washed pebbles was laid down, the tank 
was then filled with water, and the gold-fishes and minnows were introduced. 
That is nearly all that has ever been done to the tank. Yet a few 
things remain to be said. In the first place, it has been a complete 
success, and the nature of that success may, perhaps, surprise some of our 
