Harper's Outdoor Book for Boys

Harper's Outdoor Book for Boys is by Joseph H. Adams. For a basin, the text says a concrete wall can be made instead if it is not possible to get the bricks, and describes a mixture of coarse sand or gravel and cement, half and half, with a shovel or two of small stones, preferably cracked. Under the heading An Aquarium, the text says there is nothing difficult in the construction of a glass-and-wood aquarium, a job for the boy who is handy with tools and careful in joining wood-work accurately.

The text speaks of fixing in position with long, steel-wire nails or with screws, which always make the best and most secure joints. The text says that, to prevent the side-rails from spreading, a cross-rib should be made fast to the under side of the side-rails about at the middle. The text says a brush-house or any hut built on or near the ground is not so cool to stay in as one in the trees, but it is, of course, much easier to construct.