NOTES AND QUERIES

Otago Witness, Issue 1602, 5 August 1882, Page 17

NOTES AND QUERIES

H. A. S. writes in answer to " Constant Reader's ' inquiry in our isßue of July 15th :— The Marquis of 'Hastings died in 1868, and the title became extinct, his sister, the Countess of Londown, inheriting

the Scotch honours. M. C. H., Henley, asks :— Will "Toss Hobbie,",Hyde, kindly inform me if he is aware whether the disease amongst his stock is a contagious one ? I ask for this information aa a few young cattle I purchased lost year are affected with, apparently, the same disorder, and some of my other stock

have caught or got the same complaint. Fred. Fdlton, Napier, writes :— Your correspondent ,' " Progression," in issue of July 22nd, asks about American fiourmills. If he consults me I can send 'him particulars of the " Waterouse Portable Steam ■Flour Mills " that may answer his purpose. Head Garbbnbr's Pamphlet.— We have received a

number of further queries on this subject, but we can only state that the pamphlet is not in stock in , Dunedin, but no doubt local booksellers would take ! orders from those desirous of obtaining it. Wo i fancy, however, that the system adopted by the author was well summarised in the article published

by us. Bbta.— (l) Your balance-sheets are perfectly correct. (2) The land, shares, &c. should be included in each successive balance-sheet so long as they are in your possession. (3) We cannot give you any definite information as to the climate of the town of

Winipeg. The winter in that part of Canada is in- ' tensely cold, but dry and invigorating. The snowfall begins in November, and continues for about a month, being succeeded by calm frosty weather with ' a beautiful clear sky. The snow all disappears in ' May, the summer is fully established, and vegetation, which has been in active progress for a month j or more under the snow, breaks forth in profuse luxuriance. J. 0. 8., Mosglel, writes:— With reference to "ProI gressloti's " query in a. late issue, I may state that in an American paper I received by last week's mail 1 ! noticed an advertisement of a farm mill which j would probably suit his purpose. It is styled ttio ' " Queen of the South Poitable Farm Mill, ' and is | described as being intended for stock feed or meal for family use. It is stated that there are 1 10,000 in use in America, and the manufacturers offer to send pamphlets on application. The ad-

dress is the Simpson and Gault Milling Company, Cincinnati, Ohio. iNQUiBBtt, Invurcargill, asks i-^l) The heat neces»ary to hatch eggs ; (2) the price of an incubator ; (3) where can one be got ; (4) how is tha heat kept up ; (6) is the price according to size ?— There are, no far as we can learn, no incubators to be had iin Dunedin, although it will be remembered ' from our description of the hatching establish- , ment in the vicinity of Port Chalmers th*t the manager had had a number made to his order, which were said to be giving satisfaction. Unless you were going into poultry- ■ hatching on an extensive scale, we do not think you would get any satisfaction from the ordinary hot-water incubators, but would recommend the trial of a simpler method of artificial incubation. With this object in view, we do not think that we can do better than recommend you to try Reaumur's method, as described by Professor A. Corbett in his work on Poultry Raising. Mr Corbett, who had ' invested 40,000d0l in a poultry farm, tried all kinds

of incubators, with, as a rule, very unsatisfactory ! results, until he adopted Reaumur's method. This : is to hatch in stable-manure, and rear the brood in

a round kit or tub buried in the hotbed.

manure used for the hotbed must be from grain-fed horses, as that from grass or hay-fed animals contains very little heat. The manure should be dealt with as carefully aa a gardener would treat it for a hotbed for his plants, and the building in which the hotbed is made should have an equable temperature, and be without a boarded floor, but the air should circulate freely. The hotbed should be Oft

square, and packed closely, but not trodden upon. When it is 18in deep put in the barrel, which must i be of light construction, with a cover, and a system of ventilation to regulate the heat, after which it must be carefully covered with manure to make the heap square. In two days the heat will bo 120deg., and this must be reduced and kept at from 102aeg. to 105deg. Then the eggs may be placed in it, care being taken to take them out for say 10 mii.utes or a quarter of an hour duiing the middle of tbe day to allow the embryo chick air, which is essential to ' its existence. As the heat lasts for 40 or 60 days it would hardly be necessary to make a second hotbed unless you intended to rear a great number of chicks. Make an artificial hotbed with a short-wool sheepskin, allowing one side of it to come within an inch of the ground, the other being nine or teu

inohes from it. Greenhorn, Tapanui, asks if the moon has any effect on tne weather ?— Mr Beverly replies:— The moon was formerly supposed to have an effect on the weather, but meteorological observations conducted for the last 30 or 40 years do not favour that opinion. It has been ascertained that storms travel along the earth's surface at various rates, and last generally several weeks, sometimes two months, disappearing at one station while they break out at another. Hence, if a storm occurs at new or full moon at one of the stations in its track, it could not do so at others. Still, the moon must produce atmospheric tide*, but these do not seem to have any appreciable effect on the weather. G. E. D., Timaru, asks if there is a vegetarian guidebook published giving ordinary diet used by vegetarians.—Yes ;J. Smith's Vegetarian Cookery, published in 1866. To be had of J. Wilkie and Co. Princes street. » Ignoramus asks :— (1) How could a person get a copy of the debates of House of Commons, England (2) Where are works on Constitution of England to be had, and at what price? (4) Are thero any works dealing on the Constitution of New Zealand, and how can one become acquainted with the matters affecting formation of our Government ?— (1) Though any bookseller. (2) < Haliam's Constitutional History," Cs 6d; Creasy's do. 93; at Wise, Caffln, and Co.'s, Dunedin. (3). Write to Mr Geo. Didsbury, Government printer, Wellington. A. 8., Roxburgh, writes :— ln a new wooden housf, newly painted and varnished, silver watch chain>, lockets, watches, and other silver goods tarnisu very quickly. Will you please say i* game caused by dampness in the timber or by acids in the varnish ?- There are no aoids in varnish, and we do not think damp timber would have any effect on silver. The

paint is no doubt the cause. Place dishes or pails; °! abou * the rooms a * aififtt* and the effeots or the new paint will soon disappear. Blacksmith rites :-Can you or any of your numerous subscribers put me on the right track where to' obtain good smithy coal? I have heard that the Westport coal is superior to Grey River or even 1 Newcastle. Any information on the subject?— .Newcastle coal is generally reckoned best for smithy Purposes. The Nightcaps coal ia, we believe,also highly commended, but we are not < aware- • wnether it is considered Buperior to West Coast" coal or not. Subscriber asks the best way to cook sheep's tongues n * +I} l™ 1 wß"^w 8 "^ " Beveral cookery fooks, «ome of the very best, and cannot see anything about them. Being up the country, and count ueutlr of a nice way to do them up for table."- We cannot think of any way but boiling the tongues, andTrrug them with parsley sauce, but if we can obtaia ', any other recipe we shall publish It in "Home Interests.' Perhaps some of our fair readers may be able to offer a suggestion on the subject. D, M. K. Ashburton, asks which contains the most population Glasgow or Liverpool ?- Liverpool. The census of 1881 showed the respective populations tn. be : Liverpool, 552,425 ; Glasgow, 51i;425. fliM'O.,V.S., writes: -I noticed in your last issuethat a correspondent at Hyde wishes a cure for a skin disease which has shown /itself among hi» young stock. The following treatment Will efieot acure: Mix half an ounce of sulphur and two ounces. of Stockholm tar in two quarts of water, and give ir* ' one dose to each diseased beast. Then apply the following lotion to the skin : One pound sulphur six ounces oil of tar, andjOne gallon castor oil • mix and rub well into the skin. J. C. X.— Your answers and comments arrived too late. The latter will, however, do equally well next WSQt£. Look-out, Balclutha, writes us on the subject of the late fire at Balclutha, stating that Mr Andrew KUgour should have special mention for the manner ia which he worked in endeavouring to keep back th» flames. He says :-" I consider Mr Kilgour should receive special mention, not only for the enenretic: way in which he worked at the late fire alone bufc also for the assistance he has rendered at every flm ,that has occurred in the townßhip." , Sbitler writes :-"In my letter which appeared inyour !isiue of last week the words 'release which the pro' posed leasing Bystem and,' should have been « relief Familiar Sayings and Poetry.— We have a large num. ber of contributions on hand, which will appear in due course. ' FF v

Wnoeamub, Hyde, asks :— lf a man has an article for repair belonging to another man, can he, in tha

case of the person to whom the article belongs aolna: insolvent, keep the article in payment of debt duf to him by the owner?-He haa a lien upon the article for expense of repairing it, but he cannot , keep it m payment of another debt.

QUERY. Inquirer, Invercargill, wishes to know the easiestawd simplest way to remove stains from the leaves ol a scrap-book, made by green ferns being placed between the leaves and pressed.