NOTES AND QUERIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1585, 8 April 1882, Page 17

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Amicus, Nsseby, writes :— Would you kindly suggest a remedy' for a lingering and fatal disease existing among my fowls. From six months old they, one or more at a time, waste away and die. The symptoms are a stagtrering and listlessnees ; some of them exhibiting themselves as if pained while walking about in their living-dead state. I have tried many remedies in vain. They have do want for food 6r drink, and are allowed full freedom, a«d have apparently no vermin on them. I have changed the breed, from which there is no satisfactory result. I keep 100 (more or less), and have ample space for 300.— The complaint is probably caused through a chemical want in the soil in your neighbourhood. Growing animals require iron, and 1 if this be missing the symptoms you enumerate— a result of weakness— would probably ensue when the birds reached a certain stage. Try a teaspoonful of sulphate of iron to every quarti of their drinking water, changing the water every other morning. Many poultry fanciers keep their > flocks in good health by this means, not waiting until some of them show signs of sickness, but keeping iron in the water from the beginning. If you can obtain some old mortar put some of it within reach of the fowls ; if not, get some lime and mix it with sand. Use earthenware drinking-vessels if you try the iron. T. B. asks :— What is the best way to cure rabbitskinS for rugg, &c. with . the quantities'Of ' ingredients?— Pound up Jib of, alum, and dissolve in ihot' water ; then 31b of salt, and dissolve in cold water ; get, say, 20 skins from freshly-killed animals, and put them in a common kerosene tin ; add then enough clean cold water to cover the skins, turn skins round and round ' in the tin night and morning for three or four days. ■ Take them' out and peg them on to boards/and allow' them to dry gradually, not in the sun or by a fire. When the skins become a little dry take them off and rub well with the hands, twisting and tur,ning,them about ; then hang them on a line to dry the fur, and rub them between the \ hands once or twice, and when dry they will be as ! soft 'as a lady's glove*, and white and "tough. ' Amateur,' Vincent, County, aßks whether Britannia ■ metal or electro-plate is best for household utensils, such as teapots, spoons, and the like, and which of the two will last longest and keep their appearance - bestjalso, which of'the two' is most expensive.— < Electro-plate is superior to Britannia metal. If you , get it of good quality it will last a longer time, but if a common kind >is procured, with constant wear ' the plate comeß off,' and common spoons, &c. become yellow. ' ' Electro-plate goods are about' 100 per cent, dearer than Britannia metal. Amateur Gardener asks if any manual on gardening written specially for New Zealand is obtainable in '.Dnnedin.- We have-not heard of any such work being published, ,but there are many manuals which simply require the transposition of the seasons. , " Beaton's Garden Management,", to be had of J. Wilkie and Co., would prohably answer your ■purpose. , ' Thomas f ßrown, Tuapeka, writes:— ln taking -water by pipes from a mountain side across a gully to an isolated bill, for hydraulic sluicing, what are the best means for obtaining high pressure ' at the claim on the said detached hill? What should be the benefits of a dam on the mountain, side ? The common plan' is to put pipes 'of greater diameter at the top ond of the lino of pipes leading from the mountain, gradually reducing the diameter as the gully is reached. Now some men imagine that this system should be reversed, as it appears paradoxical t to 1 most practical ' men. ( I should like to have Mr Beverly's, or some scientist's opinions on the " matter.— Mr Beverly says :— The pres-

sure at the jet is one atmosphere to every '34Jfeet L of differences! level between jet and source, lesa.fhe friction of the water in the pipes, which .varies as the length of,, pipe and the square, of Velocity 6f flow,, if the pipe' jbe, uniform. Then the question is— How can the water be conducted across a gully 1 most economically, so that the loss of 'head by friction shall not exceed a given' amount ? If thepipes were of uniform thickness and diameter,' they must be sufficiently strong to resist the pressure at the bottom of the gully, and there would be a waste of metal in those parts where less strength ,is required. ' Now, thjs waste ,may 'be saved in two ways, or by a combination of both. The' thickness' of the pipes may be made nearly proportional to the (pressure they have to sustain, the diameter being uniform ;■ or the diameter may be made nearly inversely proportional to, the pressure,' the thickness, being uniform, in, which case friction is increased at the bottom ' and 'diminished at top ; or, 1 lastly, the, thickness may be 'made' nearly p'roporMdnal' to the' square root of the pressure, arid the diameter nearly inverssly proportional to the same,' which is themost economical form as regards quantity, of metal. To make the pipe wider at the bottom of the guHjay,, would be absurd, if for no .other reason than .that; sediment' would collect there owing to' the sluggishness of the flow. ' A dam at the source would be';of ho'benefit, except in case of the supply* falling short' at any-time. '> •■■' <i v ■>«: <>| '* "W '" Farmer, Mataura, asks what is thebest<bobk>that T can' be had treating on horses, and cattle, their ailments' and treatment, where it can be had, and at what price? -We do not know of any work 'treating of j both horses and cattle, but you. may be able ,to choose from the following Works :— " Stonehenge oh the (.Horse ;". "MayheVs Horse Management;" " Horses and Stables," by Major-general Sir P. Fitz1 wygram, }ss; "Cattle and- their Breeds,Marjage- ' ment, and Diseases,'.' 10s— to be had from Wise and CO. t ' ,*''!'* ' '! R; F. 0.- On the night of October 25 : 26, 1859. , ). D. G., Mararoa.— We believe it to be genuine. , Johk M'Kersie, Bannockburn, writes as follows in reply to the query of " Scotchman," Invercarglll, publisbedlast week :— l am a 1 great 1 ' adifiirer of "the* poet Burns, and have, read all his published works;; prose and.pqetical, his famous letter to Dr Moore, included, and all "other reliable authorities on jiis life and career, such as Dr Currie, Professor Dugald Stewart, Professor 4 Walker, AllatfCunmnghamj'&c. Cunningham's biography I would specially com- , mend, and would advise all clergymen who are | , weak-minded, and contemptible -.enough to .malign and traduce the memory of such large-minded, noble-souled characters as Tom Paine and Robert Burns to refer the public to authorities. In the case' mentioned by "Scotchman," the minister ought in fairness to have mentioned the when and where. I venture to say that not one of Burns', biographers ever made any such base insinuation, and question whether anyone other than a clergyman would have the audacity to make such a false and gross statement in the 'name of ' Scotland's

national poet. J. L., Naseby, asks for the name of the book that gives the weight of iron by the measurement, and where it can' be got ?— Molesworth's , Engineers' Pocket-book, price 7s 6d, to be had at H. Wise and

Go's. . , ■ , E. B. E., IHawera, writes: -Will you please inform ' me— (l)' Who is the author o f "The Ingoldsby, Legends" ? (2)' From whence, is the name "Otfago" derived?— (l) Bey. Richard Harris' Barham, a minor canon of St. Paul's. (2) Otago is a corruption of

the Native name of the district— 0 takou. * • Colonus, Livingstone.— You can obtain a certificate of death on application to the registrar of the district in which the person died. The certificate will coat

; you 2s 6d. A., Southland.— There ia no difference between a mile square and a square mile, but two miles square is twice the area of two square miles. Inquirer writes:— In the event <of a, person dying in- ' testae , leaving a wife and family, can the eldest son take two-thirds of the estate (real and personal), and so deprive the rest of the children of any participation ? — The widow is entitled to one-third, and the remaining two-thirds is divided equally amongst all the children. This applies to real property as well as to personal. AGRicoiiA, Southland asks:-(l) When the pheasantshootiug season commences in Otago. (2) Can a man shoot pheasants on his own property without a ' license ?— (1) The time is fixed by notification, the period being some time between the Ist May and 31st July. (2) The Act provides :—" No person or bond fide occupier of any land not being 1 Crown lands shall be prevented from killing or taking game upon any lai.iU so occupied within the periods allowed under this, or be liable to a penalty for so

doing." This also applies to some one person aj> pointed by the occupior. B. writes : - 1 have heard it frequently stated by vari' ous persons in different parts of the country that at the end of every seven years of a person's life revaccination is necessary. They say that if this is not done ac the end of the periodß mentioned one is after a ards as liable to the attacks of smallpox as if he were never vaccinated. These siateinents, however, 1 look upon as nonsense, but would feel obliged if you would say whether medical authorities advocate rovaccination once in seven years, or at any other interval of time.— There is jv ( great difference of opinion on this matter, many medical men con« tending that it is necessity to be revaqolnated every seven years, while otheiu Wait it ie not,