NOTES AND QUERIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2119, 4 October 1894, Page 27

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Countryman.— You can get a dark staining varnish, in two or three colours, which you would find far more useful, cheap, and effectual than anything you can make for yourself. It will at the B»me time stain and varnish, and makes old furniture look as good as new. Or you can get enamel paint of nearly every colour, which when applied smoothly with a brush gives a fine even Burface. which requires no varnish. For wicker or basket work chairs the varnish is suitable: for those which have been painted before the enamel paint is more efficacious. They can both be obtained from Mesßrs Smith and Smith, Octagon, or from the D.1.C., &o. If you write to either of these naming the extent of surface you wish to cover, material, colour, &0., they will send you the proper material and the proper quantity. Inventor.— Mr Beverly kindly replies to your query :— Your description is indefinite, and only general answers to your queries can be given, but these may enable you to make the calculations you require. The power of a current wheel, or undershot wheel, does not depend on the length of the shaft, nor on the diameter of the wheel, but on the area of the float boards and velocity of the current only. A wheel with floats 9in x 24in and seven miles per hour, or 10ft per second, of current gives one-horse power, and the power vaiies as the float area, and as the cube of the velocity of current. The discharge from a pump is proportional to the area of the piston, or plunger, to the length of stroke, and to the number of strokes per minute. About four tons of water will be required to wash a ton of sand, and to raise this quantity, by pumping, 3ft in an hour, a fiftieth of a horse power will be required. A 3in pump with 6iri stroke making 100 strokes per minute (60 per minute if double acting), will raise four tons per hour.' The power required to work the shaker and paddles can only be found by .experiment ; but suppose they take four times aa much as the pump, or a tenth of a horse power, to drive the whole, then' float boards 4in x 6in Would be sufficient, or the floats might be made 4in x lOin and the wheel allowed to run faster, which would give the same power, though much under the maximum. The wheel may be any diameter that is most convenient ; if 4ft, measured from the middle of .the floats, it will make from 30 to 40 revolutions per minute, according to the area of the floats. If the machine is intended for gold saving, you will require ripples or fluting inside the naif cylinder, otherwise moßt of the gold would be thrown out by the paddles along with the sand Amalgam. —Mr Beverly replies : — A 3in pipe 280 ft long, with a fall of 160 ft and a seventenths nozzle, will diicharge a quarter head of water at a pressure of 135 ft, 15ft being spent in friction. The velocity of the jet will be 92ft per second, and with a pelton wheel will give three-horse power. This will be sufficient to drive two 6001b stamps making 80 stroke* per minute, if the drop does not exceed llin or 12m. If the wheel is 3ft 6in in diameter at the middle of the cups, it will make 240 revolutions per minute when at maximum efficiency, and your cam shaft making 40 revolutions per minute, the diameter of the pulleys will be in the ratio of 1 to 6. A sft pulley on the cam shaft and lOin pulley on the weeel, or 6ft on cam shaft and lft on wheel, should be sufficient ; but the larger the pulleys are the better, if there is room enough. J. W.— (l) By bank draft is your only safe plan. Though 2} per cent, appears a heavy item, it is much better to pay it and be free from care during the voyage than be in continual (and • justifiable) fear of something going wrong. (2) Forty three sovereigns weigh lib, with sufficient gold over to make two-thirds of a sovereign. R., Oamaru, writes :— Mr D. Niven waa one of the passengers by the Philip Laittg, which arrived on April 15, 1848. He died a few months-afterwards from the effect* of an accident. Can any of your readers inform me of the date of hfa death and where he was buried 1 as his name doei not appear on the monument in the Arthur street Cemetery. I believe he was the first of the immigrants who died in Otago. A son and daughter «f his are living near Invercargill. The Dunedin Town Board.— R., Oamaru. writes :—ln: — In your obituary notice of Mr Edward Kemp M'Liskey you say — "And was, we believe, a member of the first Town Board set up in Dunedin." Ido not think he was. The first Town Board under the ordinance of July 17, 1855, was elected on August 16, 1855, and consisted of the following nine members : — William Henry Cutten, George Duncan, James KUgonr, John Hyde Harris, David John Napier, John M'Glashan, Alexander Rennie, Charles Robertson, and Robert Williams. M'J^ißkey's name is not on the electoral roll for either 1855 or 1856. He first appears on the roll for 1857-58, and then not for Dunedin but for the Western District, his place of abode being at Sawyers' Bay. He had a boot shop in Rattray street as late as 1880, and in Gore in 18S6*.

Poultry.— (l) A tasteless grease for coating eggs in order to preserve them ia made from two parts of salad oil and one part of beeswax melted together. After coating they may be packed in sawdust or bran. The objection to the use of butter in place of oil is that it turns rancid. (2) Many people use a pickle made as follows with good results : — 2Jlb quicklime, 6oz common salt, loz saltpetre, Joz cream of tartar, and 3gal of boiling water. Allow it to cool, then pour off with as little sediment as possible. Drop the eggs in each day as they are laid and keep the jar covered and in a cool place. Prospector. — Since replying to your query last ,week we have obtained the following additional information :— The price of South Australian camels varies as much as that of horses, or more. For £18 you can pick up a young, unbroken animal, but if you want a good riding camel you must be prepared to put down £70, while waggon camels cost £50 apiece The camels imported from India cost about £10 less all round. Rrrni- sdale asks :— Will any of your readers kirxily inform 'me If it would be necessary to cross the river Clyde in order to get to Khuglan from the Cross of Glasgow, in Glasgow, Scotland ? Are they on opposite sides of the river ? Tuapeka. — You do not need a poisonous substance to protect your fruit trees from the ravages of rabbits. Smear the stem to a height of a couple of feet with either blood or cowdnng. and the rabbits will not go near it. A Cheap Deodoriser. — "Tuapeka" writes: — I sea by the Witness that a gentleman has been writing that lignite dross is a good deodoriser. It is a wonder that he did not try ashes. I have been usiog ashes (Kaitaugata) for years in the fowlhouse and in the w.c. It takes away the smell at once. Let anyone try it and they will find it effective, no matter how strong the odour may be. If in the fowlhouse the ashes should be thrown over roosts and all ; a slight Bprinkling does.—— Lignite ashes detracts materially from the value of fowl manure, but aa a rule, and especially in towns, this is a minor consideration. Morganatic. —The following definition is given by Allandale:— A semi-matrimonial alliance between a monarch or one of the highest nobility and one of inferior rank ; called aleo a left-handed marriage, the offspring of which do not inherit the father's rank or possessions, but are considered legitimate in most other respects. —Morganatica (low Latin) : A kind of dowry paid on the morning before or after marriage ; a dowry accepted in lieu of other claims. Corrupted from German morgen gabe— literally mornrag gift.— 'he following is the Century Dictionary's definition ;— An epithet noting a marriage of a man of high rank to a woman of lower station, which ia contracted with a stipulation that neither she nor the issue, if any, ehaU claim his rank or property in consequence. . . . Such union* are also called left-handed marriages, bee -.use at the nuptial ceremony the left hand is often given. Fairlie. — Maioro means an earthwork, an embankment for defence ; a ditch for fortification. Macro means a channel for water. J. H., Hindon.— (l) Yes, as a rule, but there are of course exceptions. (2) Certainly foot-rather uhilauthroDisS ,j

Kerosene a Remedy fob Tutu Poisoning.— "A. M ." writes :— lt may be useful to some of your readers to know that kerosene is almost a certain cure for "tutued" sheep. I never saw the dose measured carefully, but would give about a wiueglassful. I have known it bring them round after bleeding, ammonia, &c. had failed to do any good. I have never had occasion to try it on large cattle, but have no doubt it would act the same, given in larger doses. J. B. M.— We do not know who have the "Stallion" brand of condition powders, but Messrs Nininio and Blair, Triangle, Dunedin, have a highly-recommended powder which they retail at 6d per lb. T. A. T., Waikawa.— We cannot see what object ! is to be gained by continuing the difcussion, and space is too valuable at present to allow oi its being wasted. Waitaki.— Mr Beverly replies :— You do not require any extra hurdles. In the race you have 304 square feet to 100 sheep. If you make the yard square, with 10 hurdles in each side, you will have 1600 square feet to 500 sheep, or 320 square feet per 100 sheep. Or if you make it oblong, 12 hurdles long by 8 wide, you will have 307 square feet per 100 sheep. It cannot be made narrower without using extra hurdles. Miner.— There are two metallic minerals finely impregnated in the specimens you send. The one of a bluish lead-grey lustre is galena (sulphide of lead) ; the other, in finer' particles, of a silvery white lustre, is arsenical pyrites. Junior.— Entries for the Junior Civil Service examination must be in Wellington before the 31st inst. ; the fee is £1 Is. Forms of application can be had at the Education office. Grower.— lt is only those who have a knowledge of the varying weights of the quarter by which oats are sold at Mark Lane who know by the quotations what comparative values are in that market, and it is doubtful if a single dealer here could tell you the variations in the weights. English oats are sold by one quarter of 3361b. by another of 3201b, and by still another of 3041b; Russian oats by tha quarter of 3041b; New Zealand oats by the quarter of 3811b, and by another of 3521b; American oats by the quarter of 3201b, Finland oats by the quarter of 3361b Swedish oats by the quarter of 3361b, and by another of 3201b. (2) Early in, August the following were the prices quoted for oats :— English, 3361b, 20s to 245 ; do 3201b, 18s to 20s ; do 3041b, 16s to 18s ; Russian (from various ports), 3041b, 12s to 14s ; New Zealand, 3S4lb 26s to 275 ; do 3521b, 23s to 245 : American 3201b, 18s to 19s ; Finland, 3361b, 19s to 21s • Swedish, 3361b, 20s to 225 ; do 3201b, 17s to 19s 6d. Regarding the qualities under offer at date, the Mark Lane Express says :—": — " The best New Zealand oats are certainly the pick of the market, while the Russian oata are offered at a price which not only defies competition, but will probably long continue to do so." Contractor.— lt is claimed for the steel horse collar, or combined collar and hames, that it is cheaper, lighter, more comfortable for the horse, requires no stuffing, and lasts longer than a leather collar. They are adjustable both as to length and width, and therefore can be readily fitted to different horses of nearly the same build. They must be in extensive UFe, for Donald Reid and Co., who had them in stock, have none on hand now. The present agents, Morrow, Basset, and Co., have only one left as a sample, but are in daily expectation of a consignment ordered. Mr Ohewmg, Mossburn, has eight or ten of these steel collars in use. and so you may ascertain his experience and ideas of their merits. A circular will be forwarded to your address. Farmer.— The practice of washing sheep before shearing, either in cold or warm water— the latter preferred as it more effectually cleansed the wool of yolk and dirt— had at one time many advocates, who urged the further reason that as freights were charged according to weight there would be a considerable saving in the transit charges for clean, light wool. For a time buyers willingly payed higher prices for washed wool, and this duly led to the extreme practice of washing the wool on the sheep's back and scouring.it after being clipped. Scoured and washed wools continued for a while to command fancy prices until British manufacturers pronounced forcibly against them on the following grounds : (1) The wool is liable to become felted m the process in both cases. (2) Wool packed in the grease keeps better, is softer, and is washed more easily and perfectly when it arrives in the grease or yolk at the warehouse of the comber or manufacturer, and that at least with one half the soap. (3) When wool is washed on the sheep's back it is robbed of a very valuable potash which it contains, and which has an important market value, as well as a considerable proportion of valuable grease, which can be redeemed from the washing suds. (4) If the comber or manufacturer receives the wool in its natural statein the grease and properly skirted— he can produce a better quality of top and more of it. These decisive pronouncements of manufacturers settled the question, and sheep washing was abandoned. Query 2.— Among the prizes won in Scotland and England by the horse you refer to were the following : Exhibited at Ayr 1876 as a yearling won first prize; at Ardrossan won first prize ; at Kilmarnock in 1877 as a two-year-old, won first prize, with medal for best horse in the yard ; at Dairy in 1877, won first prize ; at Ayr in May 1877, first prize : and at Glasgow, same year, first prize ; at the Royal English, Liverpool, July 1877, won first prize ; and at the Highland Society's show, Edinburgh, July 1887, won first prize. A. R. — The grains left in the distillation of spirits are richer than those left in brewing ale and porter. Where cartage of grains to distant dairy farms would prohibit their use, there are processes employed for drying and manipulating them so that they may be carried at_ little cost. The only trustworthy test of quality is analysis, the charge for which would not amount to much per individual were some of your neighbours who give their cattle grains to join you in a subscription. The following is an analysis of Home brewers' grains :— Water, 7585 ; fleshformers, 062; fat-formers (gummy matter), l'O6; other organic matter (husk), 21 "28; ash, I*l9. The grains prepared for long carriage are know in the trade as "desiccated grains." (2) Rye grain is an excellent food for pigs, and, indeed, for any kind of stock, if given in moderate quantity. It should be ground or crushed, however. Throughout Eastern Europe it is a principal article of human food, and in the United States and European countries it is much used in distillation. It* constituents are : Water, 16*00 ; flesh. formers, 900 ; fat-formers, 6600 ; woody fibre, 800 ; mineral matter, 100. In your business of dairying for town supply of milk, you would find rye meal most useful, given in pulped or other cow feed such as grains. A. M.— Have sent you the salt bush seed.