NOTES AND QUERIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1973, 12 September 1889, Page 20

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Cuhious Cubes.—Mr Taylor White, Wimbledon, Hawke'e Bay, writes as follows:—In your paper of August 8, under the heading " Curious Cures," is the following paragraph:—" Everyone has heard of the officer who, as the result of a bullet passing through his neck, bad his head fixed in a sideways position till another and more friendly bullet went through the other side of the neck and put his head straight again I We do not guarantee the truth of this story." This officer, Tom Worsley, was a first, or more likely second, cousin to the late SirThos. Wollaston White, of Walling Wells, Notts. He was a frequent visitor at Walling Wells, and died there. I remember my father being called to his deathbed for a last farewell. The present Sir Thomas Woollaston White would remember him and authenticate this anecdote. He was wounded in the wars of the First Napoleon. On the first occasion he had no medical attendance, being left wounded on the field, when he ultimately was sheltered in a peasant's hut. After recovery he again joined his regiment, and in an ensuing engagement was wounded in the neck from the opposite side, falling into the arras of the late Mr M'Farlane (who in the early days of the Canteroury Province owned a sheep run on the south side of the Waimakariri river). He this time received medical attendance. Owing to the correBpondingset of muscles being severed, the head and neck were this time fixed in their normal position. Tom Worsley would also be related to the Earl of Ellmere's family, the family name being Worsley. Constant Ebadbb, Hampden.—The following is the scale of advertising, one insertion, in The Times (London);— Five lines, 4s; each additional line, Is; per column, £20; wanted situations, 2s 8d for three lines ; official advertisements, Is 6d per line ; births, marriages, and deaths, minimum rato, 6s. Novice.—(l) Letters to South Africa, via San Francisco and England, cost lid per §oz; newspapers under 4oz, 2d; via Brindisi and England the rateß are Is Id and 3d respectively. (2) No; but we have posted you a copy. (3) Otherwise at present. X. Y. Z.—lf reckoned from the equinox, spring coramenceß on the 23rd September. The season may, however, be said to commence fully, a month earlier than that date. O. G., Hokonui.—Many thanks for your expression of opinion. We are quite sure that it is the view of the matter held by everyone who has thought it out; but at the same time we think it is not advisable to open the door to a dieoussion the end of whioh it would not be easy to foresee. Tuapbka asks the correct way of measuring a stream of water running through a box. Mr Beverly replies :—Rule: If the box is a short one, multiply its sectional area in feet by six times the equare root of the head, or height of the surface above the middle of the box at the entrance; the product will be the discharge in cubic feet per second. If the box is above 10ft long and level, the discharge will be something lees. X. V.—(l) An arrow could not be attracted by electricity to a body of steel at a long distance. (2) Your question is too indefinite for reply. Amatbdb.-(1) Copper. (2) Chloride of silver, 3§oz; bitartrate of potash, 7oz; common salt, lOJoz. When finely pulverised in a porcelain mortar, triturate it under a muller upon a plate of ground glass until there is no granular feeling. Keep the paste in a porcelain pot, or in a black glass vessel, to preserve it from the light, which decomposes it rapidly. When about to use it, add a little water so as to form a thin paste, which is applied with a brush or pencil upon the cleansed articles of copper. Should a first silvering not be found sufficiently durable, after a scratch brushing, apply a second or third coat. For the reflectors of lanterns the paste is rnbbed upon the reflector with a fine linen pnd; then, with another rag, a thin paste of Spanish white, or similar substance, is spread over the re-

fleeter and allowed to dry. Subbing with a fine clean linen rag will restore the lustre and whiteness of the plated silver. (3) " Electricity and Magnefciem," by Thomas Dunman. Price, Is 3d. G. 0., Mossburn.—There are several ways of reducing bones. (1) Crush the largest ■with a heavy hammer, mixing the pieces through a fleshly made compoßt he.ip. or with the manure of a hotbed. (2) Place the bones in a watertight hogshead in alternate layers of unbleached wood ashes, keeping all constantly moistened with slops. (3) To make superphosphate, put 851b sulphuric acid and 151b water to every cwt of bones, drying afterwards by the addition of sulphate of lime or platter of Paris. Miner, St. Bathans.—The cost of a Huntington mill 3Jft diameter, capacity 10 tonß per day, is £265; sft diameter, capacity 20 tons per day r £390—f.0.b. Sydney or Auckland. "A completeplant consists of: —Rock breaker, for 3ft mill, £75 ;. sft do', £95; challenge ore feeder, either size, £55 p copper plates, either size, £50; shafting, pulleys, and belting, 3ft mill, £75 ; sft do, £80. The Fru& concentrators cost £145 each. T. A. F., Tasmania.—Cocksfoot seed saved from a> first cutting of young grass when sown does not immediately exhibit any deficiency in the peren--nial habit of the variety. It is the continuation of seeding from " first cuttings " and their productsthat sooner or later impairs the permanent habifr of any variety of parennlal grass Beed. In this colony farmers willingly pay relatively high prices for perennial ryegrass seed saved on land that has been previously depastured exclusively for two, three, or more yeatß. There are several reasons why the practice of seeding young grasses is to ba deprecated- In the first place, the stamina of the parent plant is at once impaired; and secondly, the seed is more likely to be impure because of the admixture of spurious or other grasses, and weeds which seeded simultaneously with the variety intended to be utilised. These risks are greatly lessened in the second and following years. A. H, Waikaka.—A cheap and immediately effective dressing for the purpose you will find to" be a mixture of superph.oapb.ate and common salt in the proportion of two-thirds of the former to onethird of the latler, both to be thoroughly pulverised. The crop of seed will repay a liberal dressing, as will the aftermath and the future of the pasture. Many farmers prefer fine bone dust, but its action, though more lasting, is less immediate. Nitrate of soda and sulphate of ammonia, as constituents of mixtures for dressing grass lands, are much approved of in the Home Country, but these materials, when procurable, are expensive in the colony. W. O. asks :—(l) If a road is passing between two perpetual lease settlers, and one of them is fenced and the other will not fence, can the one that is fenced compel the other to fence, or can he charge him for the use of his fences (as his fences are continually damaged by his neighbour's stock) ? 12) If a settler is justified in ploughing up an old road that is left by the Government surveyor, he not having purchased the same? — (1) He cannot compel him to fence, but if the one who has not fenced avail* himself of the other's fence—as, for example, by erecting a gate acroßS the road, he can be compelled to pay interest on half the value at the rate of 10 per cent. (2) No. Pastoral Tenant asks if a gold miner can mine ou land held under pastoral lease from the Government without the runholder's consent, the land not being proclaimed a goldfield? No, he cannot. U. 0., Akatore, writes I—A andß have land adjoining each other, and a fence has been erected on A's property—(l) can he claim the fence, and cause B to erect his part of a fence on the right line? (2) and can A stop B from pulling the other one down ? (1) Yes ; (2) Yes. Subscbiber asks if a road board or county council puts a road through a perpetual lease seotion, are they bound to fence it ? No.