NOTES AND QUERIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2130, 20 December 1894, Page 32

NOTES AND QUERIES.

A Primus.— Planet jr. means Planet junior. We do not know that th»-re was any special reason for thus naming tlie implements. Originally the tools were made by a market ; garden- r for his own use, ami thuy proved such labour-saving implement* that vi >t. one and then, another wauted similar tools fo their f-rm and 1 garneningwork. Tliisledto Air AJluu, the original maker, starting a small workshop for the making of the Planet jr. tools, and th- demand for them has increased to Biich an extent that they are now being turned out of the worUs at the rate of irom 400 to MX) machines a day. A A. K. L. -Thank you verj much for the kind sentiments expressed in " A New Yeart ' Greeting" It is very pleasant to find tne Witness appreciate! even at such a di-tauce, and it is more so to have the appreciation expr. esed in such an agreeable form. Subscridek, Gore.-So far as we can learn any i attvmpt to make an automatic self driving otcyclc has not been successful. We have mado inquiries but canuot get information on the t subject. Dvnami. — Wilcox, Smith, and Co., box 17 Dunedin, and I'rauk Babfaett and Co., P.O. Dunedin. Nuoort Bay.— (l) The Marram grass tried at the ticalh i« the same as that pvwn at Port II 11I 1 airy •with such kucccss. The grass was ouly planted at the head* a few months ago, but it has made such remarkable growth »a i o justify anticipations of a like success l>eing attaiued here *s at Po t Fairy aud other place* in atopping the drifting sand. Mr Stephens, the Harbour Boaid inspector, informs us that pr bsbly next year the bourA will be in a position lo supply both plants and seed. The former, of course, rives an advantage of a couple of years' btart over the seed, home three tons hava been planted altoßether, »nd even the driest-looking rootlets have thrown up nieen shoots, ana made good progress. In cases where band hillocks havf been formed round the pU«t« fieah shoots h;»ve come out »t the baau of the nioundu, and the grass has «rown even iv dry sand without* particle of .'oil in it. The plaute are just coming i..to flower. »nd as the .eed is very light it is anticipated that it will spread all over the at present barren a-md face and convert it into* RiCfn ovsis. (2) Seed of the grass w not obtainable here yet, but j ou can no doubt obtain some plants or ►eed from the corporation authontiea nt Port Fairi (S A.). Inquiker, Invercargill.— "Saunders's Oriental Dei>ilafc ry" claims t<» remove superlluoi sliairs, but we doubt wh-thcr it h a> Mactonly effects the purpose for which it is intended. Hair cau be removed by electricity but the only person 1 that we know of who bus the app iauces is Mr J. Jenk us, of llattr*y street, Duuediu. Co operauve.— We have submitted your query to "Paler," who is an authority on thr subject, aud he repli-s: I. answer to your miery about bo. .k- on Co operation I recommend ihe Oooperative Movement of Today," by Holyoake: I Muthuen and 00., 2. Cd " W orkuig Men Coo erators," by AcM^nd and Jones : (Ja^sell and Co., about Is. " A Manual for by I Hughes a»d N<ale, Cooperative Union, Long Uillgate. M»nche>-ter, paper covers, Js id. Thes-e are sufficient to begin with. Unfortuuately co-operation is inextricably mixed up with jo nt loctism in • ew ZeaUnd, owing to th» ignorance of people gct.erally as t» what co-operation in substance is, and paitiy because most companies are sta tfd by city men for their beuefit and uot for the benefitof producers or consumers as a whole. As our companies *re all joint-».tuck there is no demand tor co-opera-tive literature, and 1 am afraW your correspondent will have to wait some months. If, however, he is in earnest I am willing to make up a parcel of co-operative Uoks and tracts— the reading of which with a set or two of true co-o) erative rules, will fully explain the basis of true co-operation - and send it to him, he paying resist <-rev postage both ways. Junius.— Fruit B»ltis ma^e as follows :— Half a pound of icing sug»r, three packers of Kpsom salts, 3d worth of calcined magnesia, 2oz carbonate of soda, 2<>z tartaric acid, 2oz cream of tartar, l'ut the *»lts into a *low oven until they are perfectly dissolved ; mix all equally, and bo'tletitbt. Dose --a tea-spoonful . cc.'.sionally. J. M., Croyilon — Tu.ituia in the name of a species of larg- lizard indigenous to the North Island. In mythology the tut\tara is said to have been hi ought with other lizards in thocanoo Mangarara. ! THE KENNEL, CYCLING. CRICKET, ! THEArKKIAL, Ac. The whol« or part of the information usually to be found under these headiug* is this week crushed out by Christmas tales and sketches.