NOTES AND QUERIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2008, 18 August 1892, Page 24

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Kea. — (1) Even on the heavy rich land you describe the risk of rank growth and lodgment of the oat crop may be more effectually lessened when early sown provided you seed thin, while you will have the important surety of an early harvest. Sow about one-third less seed than is customarily used on medium soils, and if the tilth is suliiciently free the young plants w ill tiller and send up vigorous shoots, which in their growth will give strong straw, less liable to lodge than when the crop is thick and the stalks tine, drawn up, and weak. Again, under the circumstances you mention, late frosts will actually benefit the early crop, as they will check rank foliage, while promoting root growth, so desirable in cereal cropping. But if after all the growth is too rank, you may safely feed it down lightly with sheep when about 3m high, apian that would be risky to follow in the case of a late-sown crop, as were summer heat and drought to set in the after-growth would be uncertain, whereas an early-sown crop may be fed " back," but not too closely, as the young growth will covei the ground in ordinary seasons before the advent of extreme heat or drought. In either case, early or late, sow thin. (1) Walt Whitman's poems are obtainable at Braithwaite's Book Arcade ; price, Is Od. (3) Musical boxes with interchangeable barrels are not; obtainable in Dunedin. The Dresden Company would import one from Switzerland for you at from LlO 10s to L2l. Subscriber.— (l) The method of burial in cases of suicide depends very much upon the otuciating clergyman. Almost any Protestant clergynun would lead a burial service at the grave, although in the case of a Church of England clergyman the service would probably be different to that provided for in the prayer book. The different portions of the Northern Cemetery iD Dnnodinare not specially consecrated, so that the question as to whether the body of a man who had committed suicide should be buried in it cannot arise, but this is not the case in the Southern Cemetery, where the Church of of England portion is consecrated, and yet a number .of persons who have committed suicide are buried in it. (2) A special part is set aside for the burial of paupers unless relatives or friends undertake the interment. Re Scaly Blight.— Mr Robert Faulin writes from Ngapara :— Upon examination at this time of year f each blight will be found to have between it and the bark of the tree, more or less, oval-shaped, flattened white eggs. It would be instructive if some of your readers would keep these eggs under observation, and publish the results in your columns. It docs not want a very stioug magnifying glass to do the observation. It seems to me that the proper time to dress the tree for destruction of the blight would bo just after these eggs hatch out. I have been applying " Little's clip" to trees infested with this blight, and find, as a result, that whereas the parent blight seems to be shrivelled up and destroyed, in many cases, the eggs beneath it are fresh and unharmed. Subscriber. — Lard oil or crude oleic acid of commerce is chiefly obtained as a secondary product in the manufacture of stearin, and is purified by agitation with sulphuric acid and subsequently by steaming it or washing it with hot water. Any animal fats would probably be used as a source. By passing superheated steam into the melted fats they are split up into oleic and stearic acida and glycerine. The fatty acids are separated by cooling and pressure from the gycerine. The Bumble Bee.— lt. C, Roxburgh, writes :— I notice the bumble bee has made its appearance earlier this season. The first one I saw was on August 6. Subscriber, Maraekakaho, writes :— I see in your paper of the 11th inst. that you say that Jedburgh is noted for blankets and shawls and also hosiery. lam very much surprised to hear that, as it is only six years since 1 left that district, and there were no factories thereof any importance. The only thing that Jedburgh is famous for is its ruins of an old abbey. There are one or two very small factories there, but nothing to be rcomnared with towns such as fGalashiels, Haw jck, Selkirk, Peebles, and other towns in the district. Would you be so kind as to tell me which town is most famous for making tweeds in the Southof Scotland orin Scotland, and which town has the largest and most factories in the tweed trade. Perhaps you meant Hawick was the town noted for hosiery. Our information was gleaned from Chambers' Encyclopedia. Blackie's Popular Encyclopedia in its notice of Jedburgh also says :~ fl Blankets, flannels, tweeds, and other woollen fabrics are manufactured." Of course \t does not follow that because a town turns out good manufactures it should be an extensive manufacturing centre. The principal centres for woollen manufacture in Scotland are Kilmarnock, Galashiels, Stirling, and various places at the foot of the Ochils. M. W. T., Milton. — Dr Lindo Fergusson will probably be back towards the end of November. Dr Stenhouse, of Stuart street, is acting for him during his absence. Taranaki Shipper, asks : — Will you kiudly inform the shippers of Taranaki what has become of Mr W. It. Yorke, the local representative of Boyd and Grant, of Liverpool, whose advertisement appears on the front page of your paper. Mr Yorke has, wo believe, returned to England in consequence of illhealth, but we understand that his brother acts for him in his absence. Mr J. It. Scott is the Dunedin agent. Ramrod, Moeraki.— The Native team played 74 matches in Great Britain, and 49 of these were won, 20 being lost, and five drawn. They scored in all 82 goals and 115 tries, against i.i goals and 59 tries obtained by their opponents. P. L. H.— The Chatham Islands lie about 3 0 miles east of New Zealand. Wellington is the nearest port, but most communication is done from Lyttelton. They consist of three islands — Chatham, Pitt, and Rangatira. The firstnamed is the largest, being about 38 miles long and 25 miles broad. The inhabitants number 271, and they are mostly engaged in stock-rais-ing. The climate is much colder and wetter than any part of the mainland in the same latitude (43-25-44 -20). C. D., Cambrians. — Regarding your query as to the number of bushels of good Tuscan wheatrequired for the manufacture of one ton (20001b) of flour, and the proportionate bye-products obtained, it was deemed desirablu to make inquiries of practical millers with the view to ascertain the average results realised in practice. A mill manager of long experience has this week favoured us with the following approximate estimate. He calculites that from the millstone process 48 bushels of good wheat will give 20001b of flour ; nine bags bran each 1001b =!)001b ; one bag and a-half of pollard =1501b ; and feOlb waste, while for similar returns the roller mill would use up 50 bushels of wheat. The estimate must only be regarded as approximate, for in testing it by figures it is found that the weights of products aggregate to 313011). while the weight of the 48 bushels, at 60lb per bushel, sot down for the stone mill, amounts to 28i0\b or 2501b less, equivalent to four and one-sixth bushels of wheat ; while the results from the roller mill are 31301b of flour, and bye-products from 30001b of wheat, a discrepancy of 1301b, or equal to the weight of two and one-sixth bushels of wheat. In connection with this subject it may be well to state that the market standard weight for wheat prescribed by millers and merchants in South Australia is 631b per bushel, and was determined by the ascertained average productiveness of flour, bran, and pollard. Ilad the bushel in the above calculations been estimated at C3lb the figures would have more nearly tallied. In the case of the stone mill the excess in the weight of the products over that of the given weight of wheat would have been 106'lb instead of 2501b, while in the roller mill results the discrepancy would have been only 201b. Bookworm.— (1) Robert Thompson's Gardener's Assistant, or George W. Johnson's Cottage Gardener's Dictionary, are both suitable books for "an amateur who has already a good introduction to the art, but wishes further instruc tions." (2) "G. M. Thomson on Ferns," about 3a (Wise and Co.) ; or "Field on Ferns," about 20s (Horaburgh). (3) We have handed over your complimentary allusion to Mr R. N. Adams'

articles (' Epochs: in Irish History") to the writer. Ike amount of support accorded to colonial works of any kind is necessarily so limited as to put out of the question the possi«r-, h,° p f « lsll .VW so i arse a volume as the joentail "Kpochs"in book form would Subscriber vor 30 Years. -We are pleased to hear that you approve of the change The suggestions you make shall receive considVratir n and if practicable they will l.c acted upon ' Waihola SynscmnEß asks :-D 0 the Governments of New Zealand and Victoria allow interest on montos in the hands of curators of intestato ebtutca until such arc claimed by next of kin ■ and if so at what rates per cent. p er annum f —In New Zealand we believe interest is g^r^So^^^rirvic! L rs sKr^" A " hasno rifiht whatever John RosE.-Mars appears as a bright red star in the east shortly after sunset. The best time to vww it through a telescope is between 8 i>.m themerS.*' AbCUt midllsgUt *«*&% ninilber of lutte^ arc