Qiieries and Answers. . 185 



in Scoon church, in August last; and, through the influence and the urbanity 

 of the heritors who most readily acquiesced in all his proposals, an excellent 

 and commanding site has been obtained in Scoon churchyard. The founda- 

 tion has been dug 3 ft. deep and built to the surface ; the work is in progress 

 under the inspection of your scientific correspondent, Mr, M'Kenzie, Perth 

 Town, Architect, who kindlj' gives his services gratis. It is expected that it 

 will be completed early in summer, and when finished I shall transmit to you 

 a drawing thereof, and inscriptions, for which I hope you will find a place in 

 your valuable Magazine. 



I feel obliged to Mr. Godsall and yourself, for giving me an opportunity of 

 making this communication, which will, I hope, in the meantime prove satis- 

 factory to the subscribers.^- J. Gorrie. Annat Cottage, Feb. 4. 1841. 



Art. v. Retrospective Criticism. 



Mr. Penn's Mode of heating Hothouses. — Our correspondent N. M. T., 

 in our January Number, p. 42., cautions persons against erecting the apparatus 

 of Mr. Penn, as at first applied by the inventor, and as figured and described 

 in the Gardenefs Magazine for 1840 ; because, be says, " persons erecting it 

 exactly according to the sections and descriptions given in the Magazine will 

 find it unsuccessful." He adds that, " as to heating an early forcing-house 

 sufficiently with the pipes placed outside, it would, in particular cases, high 

 winds for instance, amount to an impossibility," &c. We refer our readers 

 to the remainder of the paragraph, which is curious, as having anticipated, by 

 upwards of a month, the objections made to Mr. Penn's plan by Dr. Lindley, 

 in the Gardener's Chronicle of Jan. 6. — Cond. 



Art. VI. Queries and Anstvers. 



White Scale, Brown Scale, Woodlice, Singing- Birds. — I shall be greatly 

 obhged, if you or any of your correspondents will inform me of the best 

 system of destroying the white scale on pine plants, and the brown scale on peacli 

 trees in a house. I am also much troubled with the woodHce on mushroom 

 beds. I have used every means I could devise, but they are of no avail. 

 What is the best and cheapest work containing information suitable for a 

 gardener, on the subject of keeping and breeding canaries and other singing- 

 birds in an aviary in a flower-garden ? — An old Subsciiber. Yorkshire, Jan. 18. 

 1841. 



The Onion Maggot. — For several years past my onion beds have been 

 injured to a considerable extent by a small white maggot, which attacked 

 them in great numbers last year, to the almost total destruction of the 

 crop. They commence their ravages whilst the onion is young; and, before 

 there is much bulb, one or more of these devourers attack each root. Last 

 year I sowed my onions in drills upon recently manured ground, which bore 

 the preceding year a crop of potatoes; for a time they looked most promisino', 

 but, when they ought to have begun to bulb, it was most mortifying to see the 

 plants, drill after drill, droop ; and, when I took hold of the stem, I found that 

 these pests had been at work, and effected a lodgement in the heart of the 

 plant. I have limed the ground without success : last year I gave a good 

 sprinkling of soot over the beds, as soon as I perceived the enemy had begun 

 the attack. I have also sprinkled salt in moderate quantities upon the soil 

 about this period of the year, but without any favourable result. I take the 

 liberty, therefore, of applying to you for advice and information, for which I 

 shall look anxiously to your March Number. What kind of a fly or insect 

 do these larvae become when they arrive at their perfect state ? Do the parent 



