Most of us like the shimmer and sheen of a sheet of water near by, and a small back yard furnishes an easy means of gratifying this particular desire.

When the contour of the land is favorable and there is a small stream, a spring, or other natural water supply, the problem is comparatively easy; but putting one in a place flat as a billiard table, where the soil is sandy and there are no rocks or boulders for miles, and when one has had no experience with cement, is another matter - the one pic-tured in Fig. 35 is the result of this par-tiular set of circumstances.

After digging and shaping the hole to the desired size, the first problem was controlling the depth of water and providing means for draining the pool when necessary. A very simple plan was adopted, as shown in Fig. 36.

The real brain-teaser was concreting the sides, as the irregular shape made it almost impossible to build a mold. Various schemes presented themselves and were discarded, and then a very simple solution was found. A pile of broken slabs of cement sidewalk was lying in a fill along a railroad right of way not far distant from the house, so a load was brought to the garden for use in making the sides of the pool. These slabs were fitted into place by standing them up edgewise around the sides and cementing them together as any ordinary masonry work.

The bottom of some of the shallows around the "big deep" arc of the same material, with concrete in between. The bottom of the deep part of the pool is about 5 in. of poured concrete on a bed of ashes 8 in. deep.

Broken rock and boulders are piled around the edges to form a rock garden. The boulders are the result of a scouting expedition - the tumble-down foundation of a barn destroyed by fire.

After the concrete had hardened, the day for the first filling arrived with much speculation as to whether there were any leaks. There were, plenty! A liberal use of cement in all suspicious looking places, with repetitions, if necessary, finally stopped them all.

Fig. 36. - A sketch showing how the sides of the pool shown in Fig. 35 were built up of broken concrete slabs. The overflow pipe can be removed for draining the pool.