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26 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
July, iqto 
The ideal water-garden is formed by a brook and a chain 
pools in the rocks 
A natural water supply is not necessary; rains and a hose will keep a small pool fresh, and 
the occasional overflow will benefit the lawn or the edging of bog plants 
there is no unfailing spring or 
pond, situated on ground a little 
higher than your house-lot, from 
which a pipe can be laid to your 
place at small expense? 
One of my pleasant memories 
is of such a case. The pipe runs 
from a pond in the hills to the 
north of the premises, and en¬ 
ters the grounds through a re¬ 
taining wall of roughly-shaped 
boulders laid in cement. The 
iron head of an ugly gnome is 
fitted into this wall, and the out¬ 
let of the pipe is at the gnome’s 
hideous mouth. The water falls 
into a shallow basin of perfectly 
clear water, in which may be 
seen stones of varied and beauti¬ 
ful colors, kept clean by frequent scrubbings with a hand¬ 
brush. Goldfish sport about, but there is no vegetation in this 
pool. The. limpid clearness of the water, with the beauty 
of the fish and the ornamental stones, furnish sufficient 
attraction. 
Vines are trained against the rock wall, and about the basin 
just described, lies a bog garden, filled with trailing cranberries, 
starry wffiite Arrowhead, quaint Pitcher Plant and Sundew. 
The overflow from this basin directly under the spout is 
guided, by means of a visible channel paved with cement in 
which cobblestones lie imbedded, to a second basin at a some¬ 
what lower level. Here we find a real water-garden, comprising 
three kinds of lilies and the curious Floating Heart, with decora¬ 
tive rushes. A second bog garden forms a finish for the edge, 
and the waste water leaves the grounds by means of a covered 
tile drain connecting with the sewer. 
A friend of mine who can control no water supply except his 
garden hose, has for two years past cultivated a satisfactory and 
very inexpensive water-garden. He was able to do the work 
himself, at odd times, and looked upon 
it as a recreation. He first dug a shal¬ 
low basin, elliptical in shape and with 
gently sloping sides. Its depth at the 
edge was two feet, but the middle was 
fully six inches deeper than the edge. 
This basin he lined with a coating of 
cement, fully an inch thick, using the 
good old formula of two parts of sand 
to one of cement, and made it water¬ 
tight. Then he bought a few butter 
firkins, sawed off the staves about the 
topmost hoops, and wired them, to 
make them stronger. In the tubs thus 
formed he placed a very rich compost 
of scrapings from a cow-yard, mixed 
with garden loam. In one tub he 
planted roots of Water Hyacinths; in 
two others, roots of white Water Lil¬ 
ies; and in one, pink Water Lilies of 
the variety mentioned before. He then 
filled up his artificial pond by means of 
his garden hose, and put in two dozen 
goldfish. 
Not content with this success, he 
then dug all about his newly made pond 
a trench six inches deep and fully two 
feet wide. Lie cemented this in 
just the same manner described, 
and filled it with very rich loam 
mixed with black meadow muck, 
until it was level with the sur¬ 
face of the lawn. The overflow 
from his mimic pond keeps this- 
bog garden saturated, and in it 
all manner of semi-aquatic plants 
are thriving* finely. He enjoys 
this bog garden best for the rea¬ 
son that it is never so full of 
beauty as to hold no more. From 
every fishing excursion he brings- 
back new specimens to add to- 
the collection already flourishing 
there. So he has Jack-in-the- 
j Pulpit, Arethusa, Calopogon, 
Sundew, Buckbean, Painted Cup, 
Marshmarv, Watercress, Blood- 
A cement pool must be drained in winter or have sloping; sides that 
will not resist the ice. 
