Elsewhere I have devoted an entire chapter to the subject of fern pools and similar adornments. In this I shall treat of a variety of artificial constructions intended to be ornamental but often quite otherwise.

The average person who locates in Florida, either for the winter or permanently, in a region where there is open water, is desirous of having a water front. A view over the water is always delightful; it appeals even to those who are absolutely destitute of taste. Many wish to own a boat, to fish or have a wharf; hence a water front is always a desideratum.

No sooner does the average man possess a water front than he considers it necessary to build a sea wall along it. In nine cases out of ten there isn't the slightest need for it: he simply builds it because it is supposed to be the correct thing, because it is the fashion to do so, just as he would wear a collar around his neck a foot high if the other fellows did. There are cases where the sea or a stream is encroaching on the land and a wall is needed, but it is safe to say that as a general thing it is not, and that it is only a blot on the landscape. Each owner usually makes a straight wall a little different from that of his neighbor; each conforming with the line of his front, and when all is done it gives one the impression that the country is involved in war and that the whole construction is a line of fortifications, that only a few guns mounted at proper intervals are needed to put the place in a state of defence.

Most of the shores of all bodies of brackish water in the lower part of the state are heavily fringed with a growth of mangroves and other trees that love the salt of the sea. No device that was ever constructed could equal this growth as a protection against the encroachment of the ocean. It is a very rare thing that even the hardest hurricane that visits this region does any serious injury to this nature-planted sea wall. The mangroves with their wonderfully arched, stilted roots and their strange manner of propagation are among: the greatest objects of wonder that the stranger sees here. Nevertheless the owner gets an ax, or has some one else get it, and slaughters every tree. Then he digs a trench with infinite labor and builds a cement or rock wall which the next severe hurricane is almost certain to demolish. When he builds a hideous house the vegetation that he has planted is pretty sure to cover it up and in a few years hides much of its ugliness, but in the case of a sea wall it is different. As it is exposed to storms, the salt spray or heavy seas, it is rare, indeed, that anything can be got to cover and hide it in the way of vegetation.

One of the things of which the average home builder almost makes a fetish is what is called a rockery. This consists usually of a rather regular pile of stones, often smooth and rounded; sometimes broken pieces of plaster images or crockeryware are introduced and mingled with the pile to add to the effect. The whole is generally built on level ground and is often surmounted with a vase containing plants; sometimes a few plants are grown on the sides of the pile. It is hard to say what the thing is intended for; perhaps there is a sort of idea in the mind of the builder that it resembles a natural stack of rocks.

Rockwork

Rockwork should always appear as though it was a natural ledge or formation, a part of the landscape: it should never have any crockeryware or artificial stone or plaster mixed with it. It should be constructed, if possible, along a slope and should be made to appear like a natural outcrop. It requires considerable art to lay up an artificial ledge and make it look natural. However, any defect in construction will be remedied to some extent by the plants and vines which should be put on it. Back of such a ledge the space should be filled with good soil and in it a variety of herbaceous plants and small shrubs may be set. On the ledge and in its crevices succulents and plants which will stand drought should be planted, such things as the Crassulas, Sedum, Echeveria, Bryophyllum and similar things. If one has water so that it may be sprinkled the Zebrinas and a variety of creepers will flourish. Small species of Agaves are fine in such places and the native Ampelopsis or Virginia creeper will creep over it sometimes almost too rampantly. Rhoeo discolor, commonly known as Tradescantia discolor and some of the Aloes do well here. It may be constructed either in shade or sunshine.

Sundials

Sundials are neat ornaments and are more or less useful. They must, of course, be set where the sun will fall on them all day but they should never be put out in the middle of a lawn. A spot along a path with trees or shrubs to the north and open space in other directions is good.