Agricultural.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 998, 17 April 1891, Page 23

Agricultural.

To Agriculturists. The Editor of the agricultural pages of the a. Z. Maxi, will be very pleased to receive from his numerous readers any items of interest on matters pertaining to the farm »»’>y, stockyard, orchard, garden, &c. There are probably many readers of the Maii. who have new ideas on some of the above subjects. Such ideas may be of great value and well worth publishing. Intending contributors will kindly remember to write on one side of the paper only, and address all communications to Agricultural Editor, N.Z. Maii..

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. W.N.A. (Dunedin).—No. I.—The word gunpowder at the present time has such a wide meaning that it would take several pages of the AT att. to answer your first question completely. There are many kinds of powder, from the ordinary small black grain sporting powder to the smokeless and and almost noiseless powder; and fresh inventions are being made almost daily of new powders or other new methods of compounding them. The ordinary black gunpowder is made as follows: Nitre (saltpetre), 75 parts; charcoal, 15 parts; sulphur, 10 parts. These ingredients are first reduced to a fine powder separately, then mixed intimately and formed into a thick paste with water. After this has been dried a little of it is placed upon a kind of sieve full of holes, through which it is forced. By this process it is divided into grains, the size of which depends upon the size of the holes through which it has been forced. Although the above formula represents the exact composition of ordinary gunpowder, it must be remembered that each maker has his own ideas as to the exact quantities of each ingredient to he used. Powder for big guns and powder for blasting are made of different proportions. In fact, scarcely any two makers use the same proportions, but all use the above ingredients. Smokeless gunpowders are composed of chlorate of potash, picric acid, and some hydrocarbon, such as gum camphor. The exact ingredients, however, are makers’ secrets. No. 2. —Linseed oil is prepared from the seed of the flax plant (linum usitatissimum) by expressing by hydraulic power. Kempthorne, Prosser & Co. have an oil mill in Dunedin. So you can see for yourself the exact operation. No. 3. —Oil of peppermint is prepared from the leaves of the menlha piperita or ordinary peppermint. The leaves are gathered when fully developed, and put into an ordinary retort with water and heat applied. The steam which arises is conducted through a worm surrounded by cold water into a suitable receptacle, where it condenses into water, upon which the oil of peppermint is found floating. The oil is skimmed off and bottled for use. No. 4.—1 am not aware of any use to which the stem and waste of the linen flax plant can be put, except cutting it up for cattle feed or turning it into manure. No. 5. —The foxterrier makes a good rabbit dog, or a cross between a fox-terrior and a greyhound is useful.

Several answers to correspondents are unavoidably held over.