READERS’ INQUIRIES

Evening Star, Issue 21638, 6 February 1934, Page 2

READERS’ INQUIRIES

CLEANING OF MARBLE. “ 11.5.” writes: 1 have acquired a small marble bird-bath pedestal that was weather-stained and marked with green streaks and in grey patches not unlike mildew on leather. L cleaned it carelully, but the green and grey marks remain and the marble generally is discoloured. / [To whiten the marble, apply a strong solution of chloride of lime or powdered whiting, mixed in a strong solution of soda to a consistency of paste. Let either remain for twentytour hours. I’hen wash off with hot water. More than one coat may be needed. But if the pedestal is to be placed out of doors, why attempt to remove this maturing process—for that is what it is? There is a certain .beauty about time-tvorn marble.J s'ILVERFISH, BORER. “Inquirer” writes; “Could you kindly advise me through your column the best method to rid the inside of a piano of silverfisb and the borer?” [The presence of silvertish indicates accumulated dust and possibly damp. Strip the piano down and clean the interior as thoroughly as possible, using a- vacuum cleaner if one is available. Spray all crevices with any good insecticide, damp several pieces of blotting paper with the insecticide, and place them at the bottom of the piapo, then close it up and leave it overnight. Next day remove the blotthu' paper and sprinkle all crevices an 3 clear spaces with powdered camphor. If the piano is against an outside wall, move it to a position against an inside wall. So much for the silverfish. Borer is a more stubborn pest and indicates the presence of sap-wood in the piano. This, if the instrument is a good one, is rather odd. For complete eradication, borer must be tackled hole by hole. Several good liquid preparations are marketed, and the use of these is advised. A home-made substitute consists of camphor dissolved in kerosene. AVhatever preparation is used it should be forced liberally into each borer hole with either a special force-pump (procurable from your colour merchant) or an oil-can with a line, slim nozzle. The holes may then be plugged with beeswax. CAPTAIN COOK’S COTTAGE WORK OF DISMANTLING RESTORATION REQUIRED Among the curious things that came to light during the dismantling of Captain Cook’s cottage at Great Ayton the cottage is now being shipped In Australia, and is to be re-erected bv the Victorian Government—were quaint old latches and a mason’s chisel of eighteenth century design, which was found embedded in the walls. The work of dismantling was being carried out by the Harrogate firm of Octavius Atkinson and Sons, whoso job was made more difficult by the fact that the cottage had been modernised to make it more habitable for tenants, and, although all the old bricks, stones’ and woodwork bad been preserved by the owners of tike cottage, it had to be i ebnilt exactly as it was m 1/00 before it could be taken down and removed. This necessitated the removal of a window from one side of the house to another, the rebuilding of an inglenook and fireplace, the insertion of a door in another wall, and a rare old cupboard. Collectors of antiques from South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand had offered Mrs Dixon, the previous owner of the house, £IOO for the fireplace, which was probably the work of the village blacksmith, and a cupboard, which even the workmen thought was worthless and were going to burn to boil their tea cans, was valued at £SO. The workmen took up the kitchen flagstones which Captain Cook’s father is reputed to have Ivcwn witli bis own hands from local quarries, and rolaid them outside the building, where they were numbered to correspond to plans of the building. The modern touches were obvious. Brackets from a sixpenny bazaar supported shelves in the pantry, but on the other hand the adzed woodwork of the

building was too genuine to be overlooked. It took three months to take down the cottage, and it is being shipped in boxes in such an order that workmen in Australia who have never seen the cottage on its present site will, by the aid of plans,; ho able to reconstruct it brick for brick, exactly as it stands to-day. Kven the ivy on the wall is going to Australia.