8 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, October 6, .1857, 
RANSOME’S PATENT SILICEOUS STONE. 
No. 1. 
Iris a grand thing in ornamenta gardening to have some 
really good substitute for stone, for though the raw material 
is cheap enough, the sculptor’s chisel puts architectural de¬ 
corations out of the reach of those who were not “ horn 
with silver spoons in their mouths.” 
A week or two ago I was looking over the garden of a 
friend, one who really has a garden, and I spied a pair of 
vases that had been thrust out of the way as useless, and 
on attempting to take one up for examination it fell to 
pieces, and became “ a crumbled ruin,” that “time had 
not crushed within his grasp.” Now, that pair of vases cost 
a round sum of money only a year before, but the frost of 
one winter settled them, and the frost of every winter 
settles, a good many such things. "We want a composition 
that will look like stone, wear like stone, and bear moulding 
to any artistic design, so as to rival the sculptor’s work at 
one-tenth of the price; and if you hunt the country from 
one end to the other you will find plenty of “ artificial 
stone works,” but few that produce any better article than 
the “ best plaster.” I would not' include such houses as 
Cottam and Iiallen, or Seely and Austin, in the category of 
workers in plaster, because their goods have stood the test 
for years; but all the old cements, even the very best of 
them,.have very special defects, and one is, that the ma¬ 
terial itself has a very dead look. It is like stone to be 
sure, but it is stone with no grain in it; the eye detects the 
sham It looks soft even if it is not so, for it lacks that 
iar , durable, and stony look which real stone always has, 
ana which reminds one of its imperishability, and the wonder¬ 
ful transformation it has undergone in the hands of the 
artist. 
In fitting up a Fern vase last spring I bethought me of 
Ransome’s siliceous stone, and after inspecting the stock at 
Cannon Row, Westminster, made a selection of a fine 
example of floral sculpture, which the Messrs. Ransome call 
No. 26 of their vase patterns. (No. 3.) This now ornaments 
my drawing-room window at Newington, the glass lantern 
having been fitted by Messrs. Treggon, of Jewin Street, and 
the Ferns supplied by Mr. Sim, of Foot’s Cray. I was so 
pleased with the chaste design and material of this vase 
that I gave a little special attention to the manufacture, 
j which is being so largely developed by the company at 
I Ipswich, and I here desire to commend the patent siliceous 
stone to all readers of The Cottage Gardener. 
It is, in the first place, a real stone, so to speak, for the 
principal. material of its composition is silica, which is 
moulded in a loose form into the required design, and then 
converted into a solid mass by heat with the assistance of 
an alkaline flux, which cements the particles together. In 
its chemical composition, then, as well as in its mechanical 
structure, it is a manufactured stone, and not a substitute for 
stone. Its appearance is bright and crystalline, resembling 
sandstone of the very best quality, and in that respect it is 
quite equal to the Craylieth stone, which has a great fame 
for artistic purposes. But a still better quality is its dura¬ 
bility : it seems to possess the very “ adamantine hardness ” 
which is inseparable from the idea of stone, though so few 
natural rocks possess it. • This arises from its perfectly 
No, 2, 
