The supply of water being provided, the next question is as to the design of the fountain and the form of the jet. When the amount of water is as limited as it must necessarily be from so artificial a source as the tank or reservoir, filled as we have described, we can only have a very small jet, and that by no means constant Under such circumstances a much more pleasing effect may be produced where the water is allowed to trickle from a basin, as in the weeping fountain, so-called, than where it is thrown upward in a single perpendicular jet - the stream in this last case being often so small as not to be visible, except when seen in certain positions. Within doors, as in the conservatory, where this small jet is not liable to be thrown aside by the wind, it may be sometimes introduced with advantage.

The weeping fountain consists of an upper basin into which the water is brought by the conduit pipe in just sufficient quantity to overflow on every side into the larger basin below it. By carrying the pipes to a level with the outer edge of the upper basin, the water may be thrown a foot or more, if desired, perpendicularly, or it may be allowed to simply boil up a few inches, falling into the basin and overflowing. The designs and materials for such a fountain may be extremely varied, particularly if the supply of water is more copious than in the cases which we have just been considering.

We lately suggested the following design for a gentleman's conservatory: The vase or upper basin formed from an irregularly shaped block of freestone, nearly circular, and about two feet in diameter. This was supported from the center of the lower basin, which was circular and two feet more in diameter, by three blocks of the same stone, placed, as it were, carelessly, one upon the other. These were bored for the passage of the conduit pipe. The whole was rough hammered, the intention being to present an object in harmony with the vines and plants about it. The spray of the water dripping or flowing from the upper into the lower basin is quite sufficient to moisten the ferns and aquatic plants set about its base. The entire height of this fountain was about four feet.

A rustic fountain, when in a suitable locality, can not fail to please the eye of taste. This may be constructed by concealing the pipe behind and below a well-arranged rock work, and allowing the water to flow or trickle down from stone to stone (the supply being regulated by a stop-cock, so placed as to be easily commanded) into a stone basin below. If care is taken to select stones from the borders of a brook well covered with moss, or from an old stone wall incrusted with lichens, the general effect is very much heightened. By filling the interstices with soil, we have a locality well adapted for the growth of ferns, vines, and climbing plants. A fountain of this description requires to be placed away from buildings, and where it will harmonize with the objects about it. If otherwise situated it is incongruous, and fails to satisfy.

A wall fountain, as it is termed, is everywhere admissible in close contiguity with the sides of buildings. A shallow arch of rough brick or unhammered stone, about five feet in height by three in breadth, is to be built. The conduit pipe being brought to the mouth of a lion, griffin, or other animal's head, placed at the upper third of the arch, is allowed to pour into the basin below. Where the supply of water is limited, we may substitute some other design, as for example, three or four shells of different sizes, placed one above the other, at certain distances, according to the size of the structure, the smallest being the uppermost, and into which the conduit pipe is brought. The water thus flows or drops from shell to shell. Hughes, in a recent English publication, depicts a fountain of similar character. About the arch may be entwined the English ivy, or, better still, our Virginia creeper.

There is no end to the designs and decorations which the ingenuity of the man of taste may devise for the artificial fountain. One point, however, is to be kept strictly in view, viz., that the water should not become secondary to the architectural display, particularly where the supply is a limited one, and the fountain is placed in the garden or grounds.

Shirley Hibbakd, in an article on collecting ferns, published in the Floral World, says: "The lover of ferns is always in want of certain species and varieties; the cultivator of succulents, of bulbs, of hardy herbaceous plants, of choice trees and shrubs, finds that his possessions are so many keys to the vegetable kingdom, and at every advance of knowledge accomplished by their aid, he learns how many more interesting and beautiful plants there are in the world which he has not yet obtained, and which he would rejoice to possess."

The Artificial Fountain #1

The writer says, "How strong and ever present are the laws of association!" and thus prefers the bubbling brook which tinkles night and day to the ear, in preference to the sweeping expanse of lake or river, with its clouds of white sails or curling eddies of vapor as they show the position of vessels or steamers floating on in grandeur or in graceful beauty.

Fortunate indeed is he who can hear the bubbling stream of pure water in connection with the spread of waters and the passing life thereon; but if but one, give me the broad expanse into whose liquid element the sun nightly passes from view amid a gorgeous golden sheen of yellow gold and crimson. The dell and rivulet are all right in a midsummer day at noon, but the broad waters are a constant scene of beauty, grand in storm, soothing in midday, and hallowing at evening. But the writer and I will agree in the beauty and enjoyment obtainable from a fountain, and especially from a weeping or trickling one, rather than a bold jet, and more especially as applicable to conservatories. In the open grounds few places have space or extent sufficient to warrant the introduction of water, except as it may be to come through and over some little rock-work or group of wild plants, in an apparently neglected corner, not brought out prominently to the eye, and detracting rather than adding to the dignity or character of the grounds.

Wall fountains, as the writer says, are admissible in close contiguity to buildings; but as he did not, I will, censure the basins of mason work, with a little half-inch jet in center, as utterly inadmissible, and making just what this writer censures, viz., the water a secondary effort to the masonry. Where the flow of water is from a griffin's head, a lion's mouth, etc., and the basin merely a receptacle for it, all right; but away with circular stone fountains and little jets so small that one has need of spectacles to see them!