NOTES AND QUERIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1764, 12 September 1885, Page 17

NOTES AND QUERIES.

KtNGWORM in Calves. — Get an apothecary to compound for you an ointment composed of copperas and hog's lard. One or two rubbings will effect a cure. Attend to the matter promptly, as the ailment will spread. Subscriber, Invercargill, writes : — I have a cow (aged) which calved about a month ago. A few days after calving she became very ill. I gave her some nitre and mustard, when she got a little better, but she- is fast falling off in her milk. ■ Could you or any of your readers kindly inform me what steps I should take in her case ? She is generally bad in her urine after calving, but I have given her plenty of nitre. — For what reason did you administer nitre and mustard ? It is nearly impossible to bring round a newly calved cow to her milk if she has been once checked in the flow. Bran mashes, or a little boiled barley with (as you are in a town) brewer's grains, will help until the warm weather and spring grass come. The effects of nitre or mustard, unless

carefully given, would be a chill to the cow on the

slightest exposure. B. H., Tuapeka. — (1) If you can find a market for your oats it will pay you better to break up, parfcicularly_ if your land has a good aspect. No sur-face-sowing of grass seeds will ever make a prime pasture, and the acreable cost for the seed would be considerable. If your object is, as it should be, to secure a first-class pasture, break up, and when

sowing down see that your land is thoroughly w ell tilled, and select a suitable mixture of seeds. (2) .Horse crib-biting.— The habit is not ao absolutely serious as is commonly supposed, though it disposes the animal which has contracted the trick to flatulence and ( colic, besides wearing down the teeth. Other horses in the stable will probably acquire the habit. The remedies used are— First, a strap catching the throttle tightly, but this haying to be worn constantly is apt to produce irritation in the throat. Second, a muzzle with wire bars so wide as will permit the horse to feed. If your horse is high-spirited don't permit him to be groomed in his stall, as he will snap and play while being dressed down. (3) The School Committee have the control. L, A. W. — The cream was uneven in condition. Anything that would affect one portion would account tor the circumstance, but it is probable that one of the cows — the one which calved on the 7th of August — was either coming into or in season, or had been mated with the bull. In a dairy of cows these matters are unobserved, and the loss unnoticed, but they have a marked influence for the time being on a cow's milk. Anything which would affect one of the pans in which the milk was set would produce the results speci-

fled by you. Farmer wishes information as follows : — He has a Bentall's CDD chaffcutter, driven by a water wheel (overshot) Bft in diameter, the driving drum being 2ft 6iu in diameter, and pulley on chaffcutter 7in. There is plenty of water, but he is unable to cut more than 10 or 12 bags an hour, and has to feed the machine lightly or else the belt goes off. How can he improve the speed or power to enable him to cut a larger quantity in a given time? — Your driving wheel and pulley wheel are out of line. This you may determine by stretching a cord from the one to the other. The carrying cylinders are otten untruly cast, and of course the belt runs off, especially when slack. The temporary remedy is to wind a cord of green hide round the centre of the small cylinder, and the driving belt will' work round this without slipping off. Inquirer would "be glad to hear if any of your readers can suggest a cure for sheep affecte"d as follows: — The sheep are crossbred ewes, four months gone in lamb, young, and in thriving condition, I have found several lying (not cast), having apparently lost all power in their limbs, and continuously raising the head and neck upwards. I tried bleeding below the eyes, and in one instance administered two doses of castor oil consecutively, but neither afforded any relief. Twenty-four hours after treating them, finding no improvement, I killed them, and on examination found nothing wrong with the internal organs, -except that the fluid in the small intestines was of a dirty brown colour. The sheep are running in a rye-grass paddock, rather bare, but have had plenty of good oaten chaff, with access to water. —The symptoms indicate indigestion, but these could scarcely be under' the circumstances so acute as to prove fatal. Possibly your grasses Are affected by ergot, and we would suggest a careful examination of them. In any case a competent veterinary surgeon only, after a post-mortem examination, could give a satisfactory opinion. The existence of ergot or poisonous plants would account for the fatality. • Cohstaitt Reader.— Our attention has been drawn to an inaccuracy in the reply to your first question in our i«s\ie of the 29th ulfc. The reply Bhould have read? ''An appeal court is invariably held atter a valuation is made, and before the rate is struck or levied. Due notice is advertised after ihevaluation is made, and before the striking or levying of a rate." H. C. whites j— (I) Some months ago J noticed a dijcussion-in Notes and Queries.! think-about cue test means to clear ground of couch urass- It wa« said sorrel, if sown thickly, would kjl it,' and that afterwards white clover would kill the sorrel Could you inform me whether tha* plan was settled as being correct, or whether, if white clover ehould be sown thickly immediately the ground was ploughed, it would take hold of ' £he soil and kill the couch grass. (2) If a heavy dfaught njare few a foal to a thoroughbred horse, wjll the foals shew have in after years, if served a purebred Clydesdale, be of inferior quality ?— (v> At the time you refer to a cbrrespoMeut su^tri

sorrel-sowing as a cheap means of getting rid of couch grass, with white clover to follow in order to kill the sorrel. The idea was not endorsed by us. and we win scarcely conceive a worse course of management. Sorrel will not effectually exterminate couch, although white clover will master sorrel. What use wduld the land be to a farmer while he was waiting the result of a fight between sorrel and couch, and then the final struggle between white clover and the survivor ? Couch can only be eradicated by means costly here, and comparatively costly iii the Home Country, where labour is cheap/but the way to go about the work is known to every practical farmer. (2) No ; unless — and mark the proviso unless — the mare "throws back." We cannot do better than give you an example. A thoroughbred mare was put to first-class sires— one of them the winner of the English Derby in 1849. The mare was pronounced hopelessly barren, but in consequence of a funny wager was covered by a donkey, witli the result of a mule foal. The mare bred for years afterwards from thoroughbred horses, but occasionally one of the progeny wa9 lopeared. This ' ' throwing back " is more immediately noticeable in pigs, but the principle is acknowledged by all competent breeders, whether of horses, cattle, sheep, or swine. Ignoramus, Hillend.— (l) The sun rotates on its own axis, the period of rotation being 25 days 8 hours, but does not revolve round a centre, being itself the centre of a system. The apparent rising and setting of the sun is caused by the rotation ot the earth, and not by the moving of the sun. (2) This question is rather difficult to answer in the 6inall space at our disposal. Perhaps the following extract will place it in as simple a light as possible within the compass of a few lines. It may be as well to state in the first place, however, that the chief cause of the greater heat ot summer and cold of winter is, that the rays of the sun fall more obliquely on the earth in the latter season than in the former : — "Besides its annual motion round the sun, the earth has a daily motion or rotation on its axis, or shorter diameter, which is performed from west to east, and occupies exactly 23 hours, 56 minutes, 4 seconds of mean time. On this motion depend the rising and setting of the sun, or the vicissitudes of day and night. The relative lengths of day and night depend upon the angle formed by the earth's axis with the plane of its orbit. If the axis were perpendicular to the plane of the orbit, day and night would be equal during the whole year over all the earth, and there would be no change of seasons ; but the axis make 1 ' with the orbit an angle of 23J deg., and the consequence of this is all that variety of seasons and of climates that we find on the earth's surface ; for it is only for a small strip (theoretically, for a mere line) lying under the equator that the days and nights are equal all the year; at all other places, this equality only occurs on the two days in each year when the sun seems to pass tli rough the celestial equator, i. c. about the 21st of March and the 23rd of September. Prom March 21, the sun departs from the equator towards the north, till, about June 21, he has reached a north declination of 23§ deg., when he again approaches the equator, -which he reaches about September 23. He then advances southward, and about December 21 has reached a south declination of 23J deg., when he turns once more towards the equator, at which he arrives, March 21. The 21st of June is the longest day in the northern hemisphere, and the shortest in 'the southern; with the 21st of December it is the reverse." W. W.— (l) There is no buckwheat flour to be had in

Dunedin, so far as we can learn, but corn meal or pearl meal can be had at 4d per pound from Ford and Co., George street. (2) Marion and Co.'s student photographic s>ets may be had at the New Zealand Drug Company's Stafford street warehouse ; price, about £5. Inquirer. — We are not .aware what company forwarded you the circular ; but if you write to Mr

Henderson Carrick, Rattray street, he would probably arrange with you. Ntcxthorn. — We know nothing about the matter. Communicate with the firm direct. Wanaka. — (1) No doubt sorghum could be grown in your district, but it is questionable whether its cultivation could be advantageously undertaken. (2) Prickly comfrey can be had from Mr William Reid, seedsman, Dunedin. Mr Reid has had eon-

siderable experience in its Cultivation, having been "' a large grower of it in England. (3) Cape barley1 seed can be procured trom' Messrs Nimmo arid Blair, High street, at Gs Gd per bushel. Ji B. L. asks : — Can a kerosene cooking-stove be procured in Dunedin suitable for a tent ? If so. what

price, and what weight ?— Yes, at Mr P. Anderson's, 110 George street. Price, 20s ; weight, ojlb. G-. V. J. asks for a description of the " real and

original flag of Ireland, and when first instituted." J. D., Deep Stream. — Put a few drops of warm almond oil into the ears night and morning for four or five clays, and afterwards syringe them with warm water and boap. You should persevere in the remedy which we prescribed for you some time ago. as it will require time to remove the

cause of the disease. Municipal asks :— (1) Is it legal, under the Regulation of Local Elections Act, 1876, for a candidate for the office of a borough councillor to nominate himself ? (2) If a councillor is elected by simple

nomination, is it compulsory to advertise his election in a newspaper ?— (1) No. (2) No. L. D. M. writes : — I hold a sluicing-claim of one acre. Sometimes I leave this ground for a few months and work elsewhere, and leave my tailrace unwashed. Can anyone come and wash up that tail-race legally without first getting my grant cancelled ? — No. P. Q. writes : — I bought an eighth-acre section in a country township, and got a receipt for the same with a penny stamp on it. (1) Is the receipt good ? (2) How am Ito get it transferred to myself, as it is still in the vendor's name, and what

will be the probable cost ?— (1) Yes

(2) By eon-

veyance in the ordinary way ; cost about £210s. Tubai Caix asks :— (1) By what legal process can a person change his name ? (2) Would it be legal to retain one's Christian name, assume one's mother's name, and interpolate a fresh name between them ?— (1) By deed enrolled in the Supreme Court. (2) Yes. Skoundo Curo— R., Oamaru, writes :— The correspondent to the Daily Times is quite right about its being the family motto of one branch of the Buchanans, as I find by an old book of family mottoes, in which it is translated— " I am prosperous, lam careful," Secundo is a latin verb active, with several meanings, one of which is " I • make prosperous." Curo is also a Latin verb, and among its many meanings I find "I take care of," so the motto is evidently intended as a piece of good advice— that when any one is prosperous lie should be careful of his earnings, and I have no doubt that Mr Millar selected it for that reason. Farmer. — Your mare hat most probably been strained in the back or loins. Keep her in a warm loose-box or shed, and untied. Let her principal food be mashes and soft stuff. If the urine is faulty, a little nitre in the mash will be beneficial. Put a warm cover on, and just nurse for a week or two, and the mare will recover; but any doctoring to procure abortion will almost to a certainty prove fatal. Mashes of bran and a little boiled barley

with carrots or a few boiled potatoes will strengthen the mare. She has been overworked and strained, and requires re6t, moro especially at the period of pregnancy.