426 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION.— September 0,1856. 
DELPHINIUM SINENSE, PHLOX DRUMMONDI, i 
AND LOBELIA RAMOSA. 
“ Will you be so kind as to inform me whether Delphinium 
Sinense, raised this year from seed, and now in flower, may 
be left with safety in the bed through the winter? Our soil 
is very heavy. Are Phlox Drummondi and Lobelia racemosa 
really annuals? Will they not grow from cuttings ?— John 
Thomas.” 
[It is not safe to leave the roots of this Delphinium in 
your wet soil during the winter. The Phlox and the Lobelia 
are decidedly annuals, but the Phlox may be continued by 
cuttings; but that Lobelia seeds freely, and does not come 
well from cuttings.] 
COST OF ERECTING AN ORCHARD-HOUSE. 
“I beg to call your attention to a statement made in The 
Cottage Gardener of the 12th ult. with respect to the 
building of an Orchard-house, viz., ‘ The house is fifty feet 
long .... The entire cost of erecting, painting, and 
glazing this house was T30.’ 
“ There must be some mistake here, as the house de¬ 
scribed in that article could not be built for less than £70, 
more than double the amount stated. It is with a view to 
save persons being misled with regard to the prices of glass 
structures that I forward the following calculations of the 
house in question for insertion, should you think it proper. 
“It is stated in the article that the house is glazed with 
24 oz. glass. I think it must mean 21 oz. or 26 oz., as I 
never heard of such a quality as 24 oz. glass. However, as 
there can be nothing better than 21 oz. best 4ths British 
sheet-glass for glass houses, it is calculated for in the 
following :— 
£ s. d. 
8 ft. 6 in. of front, and 2 ft. 6 in. of back = 11 ft. 
length of bar or rafter, by 50 ft. length of 
house =550 feet superficial of glass, at 7d. .. 16 0 10 
Glass from the level of the front plate at ends, 
50 feet, at 7d. 1 9 2 
56 bars in length of house, 11 feet long =616 
feet prepared sash-bar, at 30s. per 100 feet .. 9 4 o 
For ends and waste, say 50 feet. 0 15 0 
For ventilation there should be at least 12 ven¬ 
tilating sashes or lights, each at least 2 ft. 6 in. 
square; making of which, with fittings, would 
cost (exclusive of glass) . 10 0 0 
The ridge-plate, with capping, would cost Is. per 
foot run ... 2 10 0 
The back and front wrought gutter-plates, lined 
with 5 lb sheet-lead, at Is. 3d. per foot run .. 6 5 0 
15 oak posts for supporting front and end plates, 
supposing them to be about 4 feet apart, at 
2s. 6d. each. 1 17 6 
84 feet superficial louvre boarding for front and 
ends, at 6d. per foot . 2 2 0 
2 sash doors . 2 10 0 
Painting the whole, four coats, ihside and out .. 10 0 0 
Glazing, including cutting and putty, at Id. per 
foot superficial . 2 11 4 
Carpenter’s time fixing, 20 days, at 5s. 6d. per day 5 10 0 
70 14 10 
I 2£ percent, for breakage and other contingencies 1 15 2 
£72 10 0 
“ The foregoing estimate is made on the lowest possible 
prices of the articles requisite for glass-house buildings, all 
of which should be of the best description. The woodwork 
should he of the best Baltic deal, otherwise the house in a 
few years would fall to pieces. 
“ This house is of the cheapest description of glass-house 
building, and likely to prove serviceable, although others 
may be built much more so at a little larger outlay, which, I 
believe, would prove the cheapest in the long run .— TIort. 
Archt.” 
[You are quite right as to the weight of the glass, but 
quite wrong as to the cost of erecting the Orchard-house 
described at p. 841; for we paid ourselves every item that 
that house cost, and it was under £80. Moreover, in the 
mmediate neighbourhood of that house, another one, 100 
- feet long, has been erected recently, and we are assured by 
its owner that that house, with 16 oz. glass, has cost him 
only £50. It is quite true that the professional charges are 
as “ Hort. Archt.” states, but in both the instances above 
quoted the owners were their own architects; they bought { 
the glass ready cut of an uniform size; the woodwork , 
ready cut and planed at the steam saw-mills; the putty i 
ready made at per firkin ; and they contracted with a country i 
carpenter and country glazier to put them up. The paint¬ 
ing was done by a common workman. In round numbers, 
the fractions in every instance being given against the 
purchaser, by turning the odd pence into a shilling, the 
cost for the fifty feet Orchard-house was as follows:— 
£ -s. d. 
Woodwork. 1] 0 0 
Glass and putty . 5 19 0 
C arpen ter. 7 5 0 
Glazier .. 8 0 0 
Paint (two coats).. 1 15 0 
28 19 0 
The glass of 21 ozs. per foot was bought at 17s. per 100 
feet, and about 650 feet were used. The carpenter found v 
locks and hinges, and nothing is charged for painting, be¬ 
cause it may be done at odd times by any labourer. There 
was no louvre boarding; the base in front is banked and 
turfed.] 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Diseased Kennedya (H. N. E,).— It is fearfully covered with the 
scale insect, Coccus testudo. Filthiness in houses, whether it be the 
greenhouse, stove, or dwelling-place, is the forerunner of disease, both 
among plants and animals too. Now, the simplest remedy is this, al¬ 
though many other things might be mentioned as remedies—to cleanse 
and kill the insects which such plants are infested with. Hot water 
alone, if applied with the brush and the common syringe, will soon kill 
all the scale insects, &c., upon such plants. The water should be used 
at 140° to 148° of heat. Take such plants out of the house one by one, 
and place them upon a clean floor, such as a few boards laid down for 
the purpose, either out in the open air or in a shed. Then tie a piece of 
canvass cloth cut round and large enough for the largest pot, which 
canvass must be slit up to the centre, in order to clasp the stem of the 
plant, whilst the edge of the canvass is tied tightly round the rim of the 
pot, first tucking in a quantity of moss or the like over the earth of the 
pot, keeping the whole a little convex, to prevent the hot water getting to 
the roots. This being done, then lay the plant down on its side, and 
syringe it well with the pure hot water. Turn the plant over and over 
again, so as to scald all the insects. It may be necessary to look over 
some plants again with a small brush, to find out some in the small 
crevices, and after the lapse of a few days or a week, it may be re¬ 
quisite to give some plants a second dose with the syringe. This and a 
clean house will keep away all scale. Your Kennedya must have been 
totally neglected, or the scale would not have so overwhelmed it.] 
Heating by Gas (An Ignoramus).— There is no better way of apply¬ 
ing the heat than by a circular ring of jets of flame playing against the 
flat bottom of a boiler. You should not have the holes so small as to 
be put out by altering the pressure. The number of jets are not enough, 
and the boiler has not surface enough exposed to them, if the pipes ever 
freeze. The ring of jets and the boiler ought to be enclosed in a kind 
of stove, not only to retain the heat, but, ^hen the door of the stove is 
shut, to prevent the flame being moved about by currents of air. We 
are obliged by your suggestion about the lists of new plants and seeds, < 
and we do give notice of everything good that we know of—novelty and 
excellence are certainly not synonymous. Repeatedly have we given 
lists of plants for greenhouses, and every month we give a list of plants 
which may be in bloom in them. Look at page 383 of our 15th volume, 
“ Succession of Flowers under Glass.” In our 10th volume is a series 
of papers by Mr. Fish upon stocking economically a greenhouse. You 
will find lists of bedding-plants iu all our volumes, and you will there 
find our repeated declarations that we never plant a flower-garden we 
have not seen. If you tell us how it is planted, we shall have great 
pleasure in pointing, out any errors in the arrangement of colours, &c. 
Names of Plants (J. Kir kite). — The procumbent plant is the dwarf 
Mallow, Malm rotundifolia; the yellow flower common Celandine, 
Chelidonium majas. We cannot attempt to name plants from such 
descriptions as you sent. ( F. W. £.).— Lancashire Bog - Asphodel, 
Nartheciurn assifragum. (W. A. D.).—When you send us Plums to be 
named, always inclose a portion of the young wood of each, as it aids 
us in the identification. Nos. I and 2 were gone to a pulp. No. 3 is 
Kirke f s Plum. 
Silver Cups. —Messrs. Mapplebeck and Lowe, of Birmingham, have t 
just completed a commission from the Sowerby Pig and Poultry Associa¬ 
tion, for the production of seven silver Cups, to be given as premiums to 
the most meritorious competitors at the ensuing Exhibition of the So¬ 
ciety. The articles are tasteful in design, appropriate in decoration, and 
of excellent workmanship. Four of the number, which will be allotted 
to the best peus respectively of Spanish, Dorking, or Cochin, Game, and 
Hamburgh Fowls, are of the value of j 6"4 each. On one side, upon a 
raised shield, is a group of poultry and accessories ; and on the other, a 
space surrounded by agricultural emblems, in which the particulars of 
the award will be inscribed. In the remaining three, appropriated to 
the pig stock, figures of those animals take the place of the birds ; and 
one of them, subscribed for by the innkeepers, is of the value of jP5. 
