The Editor's Page

On November 26, 1996, Jaré Sausaman died at the young age of 62 years, after a difficult two year battle with cancer. Jaré was part of the original AGA steering committee and was its dedicated Financial Secretary for over five years. Shortly before his death, the AGA honored Jaré as the first Fellow of the AGA which was announced in the last issue of TAG. Fortunately, Jaré was able to receive the plaque before he passed away.

In this special issue dedicated to Jaré, I first present two memorials which describe his life. In the remainder of the issue, I reprint articles which cover the early years of aquarium plant keeping in America. Jaré was one of the foremost collectors of aquarium literature and had almost every book or magazine on the subject. He enjoyed researching the hobby which could only be found through its literature and I want to share some of his passion with the rest of the AGA. In this issue, hopefully you will be enlightened, entertained, surprised, perhaps even offended by the language of the day, but most importantly reminded of the changes that have taken place over the past century. In these articles you will see the changes in use of the English language, notice different spellings of some aquarium plants, like Lugwigia (instead of Ludwigia) and see the mention of old timey products, like Regenia Salts, whiting, Vigoro and Moore's Solution. Unfortunately, I did not have time to research them for a more complete description. Perhaps someone will be kind enough to provide some follow-up.

Shortly before his death, Lee Finley and he were discussing one book that was missing from Jaré's collection. It is one of the earliest write-ups on keeping of aquarium plants in the home and is found in Flowers for the Parlor and Garden, published in 1858. The chapter on The Aquarium and Water Plants presents the viewpoint that ``no aquarium does well unless stocked with some forms of both animal and vegetable life.'' I am sure that you agree. You will notice many ideas that have been absent until recently in aquarium literature, such as the comments that ``one of the prettiest features of an aquarium ... bubbles, which ascend from some plants in continuous streams...''. The chapter was kindly provided to me by Lee for inclusion in this memorial issue and I hope you will be interested as was Jaré in the methods and aquarium plants of times past.

We know from the back issues of TAG that aquarium plants maintained their popularity in America towards the turn of the century as was evidenced by the articles which appeared in Hugo Mulertt's publication The Aquarium. Jaré had described him as ``Aquatic Horticulturist Extraodinary'' (TAG, Vol. 5 n 4, 1992). Rather than revisit this period, I take you to 1915 and the introduction of a new aquarium magazine called Aquatic Life to examine the status of aquarium plants at that time. This monthly periodical was devoted to the study, care and breeding of native, tropical, gold and fancy fishes, other animals and plants in the household aquarium and represented the activities and discoveries among the eleven organized aquarium societies which existed at that time. It was edited by W.A. Poyser and published by Joseph Bausman of Philadelphia. Four articles relating to aquarium plants are presented here from 1916-17. The first is a description of an award winning picture of an aquarium, whose beauty is derived from the aquarium plants. Next, the methods for maintaining a Swamp-Plant Aquaria which include soil are described. We now call this type of aquarium: the paludarium. In The Aquarium and Its Care John Bennington says ``It would be far better if they regarded the aquarium as first an aquatic garden, and then, secondly, as a home for fishes.'' Not a strange viewpoint for a true aquatic gardener! He also talks about desirable lighting: ``...good light, but not intense light, and little, if any, direct sunlight,'' and about the need for foundation plants like Vallisneria, Sagittaria and Anacharis before one introduces the other varieties. To conclude this period, I reprint an article about a device to assist the aquatic plant collector, The Plant Grapple.

We next skip a decade to enter the 1930's. In 1932 Henry P. Bruns wrote:

The future development of our hobby depends greatly on the aquarist's ability to make the aquarium a thing of beauty. The ladies of the house, though often deeply interested in the fascinating habits of fishes, insist on an ornament in the living-room rather than a fish container. If, however, the aquarium is made a thing of beauty as well as interesting, its tolerance in the living quarters of the home is assured and the aquarist's efforts are again rewarded with victory.

Although not politically correct to make such a statement today, it is interesting that our hobby has recently seen a revival of these same basic principles, first with the reef aquarium and later with the beautiful freshwater aquaria adorned with aquatic plants. Bruns' philosophies lead off the first article of his series entitled Plants - Utility and Beauty. These articles ran in The Home Aquarium Bulletin from December 1932 to August 1933. The Bulletin ran from 1931 to 1936 and was edited by C.H. Peters and had contributions by the leading aquarists of that time. It has been prized by aquarium literature collectors as one of the best periodicals; its articles on aquarium plants even make it more valuable. In his 1932 article, Bruns teaches the aquarist to learn from nature, much like his present day Japanese counterpart, Takashi Amano. Bruns says

Gathering wild flowers in a meadow should teach the secret of the plants' struggle for existence-colonization .... massing the color of leaf and flower makes a harmonious display, whereas single planting produces a bewildering, inharmonious jumble.

We see some of the limitations of plant availability during the 1930's: ``Our selection of small, low plants is very limited, and therefore the immediate foreground of the aquarium is often left unplanted.'' With Glossostigma, Echinodorus tenellus, Lilaeopsis and others, we now have many more options. Some of his recommendations, however, did not take root -- ``The use of castles, fishing boys or mermaids in the aquarium, is not only in bad taste, but their use at once destroys the natural effect for which we are striving.'' Somewhere during the next 50 years, the American aquarium scene took another path. I wonder what he would think about the common use of plastic plants.

The next article takes us back to Aquatic Life. By this time the magazine was combined with the Aquatic World had moved its operation to Baltimore under the wing of August Roth. The first of three articles I present from the 1930's is entitled Fertilizing Aquarium Plants by William Dunbar. It shows that over 60 years ago, aquarists knew that artificial fertilization was beneficial and that different formulas were needed for different plants. At this time, soil was apparently a common recommended method for growing plants. Dunbar notes that the results obtained however, were disappointing as compared to those when sand and gravel were used as a base. He suggests that artificial fertilization gave best results in the greatest number of tanks under the most varying conditions. Formulas are included. This article also notes that some plants are heavy phosphate feeders, while others are sensitive to high concentrations of nutrients.

In the final article presented from Aquatic Life, Lester Swift presents The Real Value of Aquarium Plants. It covers many of the practical advantages (provider of oxygen, reducer of pollution, facilitator of fish breeding and enhancer of aquarium beauty). He also tries to dispell some myths of the day. Finally, we find an article promoting soil as the appropriate substrate for growing plants. Bruns and others says that ``Discussions on soil preparations have often sounded quite interesting and even logical, but we find that ordinarily no soil or fertilizing agent is necessary.'' However, Jean Bathron is clearly promoting this substrate additive. Bathron points out that ``The sand starved plant fails in all respects to measure up to expectations ... good plants can be grown in aquariums when the sand bottom has been enriched by some other medium like humus, peat or even screened garden soil.'' Jean provides some formulas for substrate additives and suggests putting plants in pots for those fanciers who still prefer a sand covered bottom.