NOTES AND QUERIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2199, 23 April 1896, Page 36

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Questions for reply in coming issue to be revived •not later than Monday night. Habits ob^Rabbits.— G. M. T. writes :— A correspondent at Cromwell informs me that rabbits in thfi Tarras -district have d«Y«l'>3>cd « habit which lie thinks is new, and which I confess I . have never heard of before. A farmer, whose potatoes were very severely punished by these animals, found that not only were the tubers dug out of the ground, but great numbers were dragged away to tbe holes and stored up them. When the burrows came to be dug up in winter —'and it may be 'remembered that fast winter .. was an unusually severe one— great quantities , „- of the'fcest potatoes were found stored up. T.h» farmer in qurstion is «f opinion that the rabbits , 'khew that a 'severe winter was coming, amd., "' made preparations accordingly, but this would * Beem to infer an amount of intelligence sur-h -as is not usually credited to these rodents. Can' ' any of your readers. give any references -to such ' a habit among these usually improvident creatures, or has any one else observed the same . phenomenon ? " r _ H. *T.~ — Tne bmUsivn vwas only, for a ?ew weeks. '.. ,You would probably see after writing that a letter wa-B'in last week. Anxious.— (l) K4aer'« Komide Kooder Circus is' »t_pre6ent in the North Island working its way ' south A letter addresser! Auckland would probably be forwarded on*. (2) The 'Hellers were; lately in South Africa We do not think -there is any probability of their visiting this colony, again in the immediate future. Sbvbntben Truis' Subscriber.— (l) It must necessarily be so in a weekly paper practically published on Wedneadaymornirig. (2) Though the southern edition is- published on Thursday 1 morning, it is all, except the inside eight pages, printed by Wednesday morning, the inset being kept open for late countiy news, the markets, and advertisements. (3) It is quite impossible to republish everything Irom the dailies. Would it not suit you better to subscribe to the Daily Times, or 'to arrange with a neighbour to do so and exchange with him ? Fisherman —We doubt very much whether you could open up a trade with Any Melbourne firm with frozen groper or ced. Write to Messrs Irvine and Stevenson, .Dunedin, and to Mr A. Thomson, of "thePorfc Chalmers Freezing Work*, either of whom will advise you in the matter. Ahgument.— There is no law which binds anyone to shut gates erected across a public road. On the contrary, it is unlawful to obstruct -a public road in any way. As a'matter of morals, how- ' -ever, you should de to others as you would Tiaye others-do to you, and if leaving aeate open will injure anyone, by all means -shut that gate. The late "James MAcandrewsaid that he made it an invariable rule, of 'conduct never to leave a gale .open. Jack.— Yes. The ctfntrSct 'is not tescinded although the first suit proved .a misfit. Anxious Sistee.— The mother has a legal figtt to the custody of her child aftjjr ' the father's ' death. ' ' 7. -T. B. — If the hut is a separate building 'apart ' from the family ' residence a separate return should be made. \ ' J. B. E.— The. statement was not made in a letter, but in a small paragraph cut from "a Home paper. No further particulars were given. Force Pump.— Mr. Beverly kindly replies :— There must -be a fall in the creek to.give velocity to • tha water in the ram. Tbe lift vertical Bhould not-be more than 'from 10 to 20 times the fall, otherwise the efficiency will be small. With lft fall and 10ft lift the efficiency is £, and 1 part •will be raised for every 20 that pawes through the. ram. With -Ift fall and 20ft -lift the efficiency is about i, and 1 part will be raised for every ISO that passes. Pi ices may be learned by supplying particulars to the maker*. W. B. X.— Mr -Beverly replies :— A pipe 16in diameter and 13 chains long will require a fall of 48ft to enable it to carry £0 Government, heads. A 20in pipe, same length, would require afallofl7ft. - Napier.— Mr Beverly replies :— The most direct way of finding the content of a figure like what you describe is to divide it into two oblique priims, by a plane sloping from the top of one cside to the bottom of the other. The content of any triangular .priam is. a .third of the aum of .its three parallel edges by its sectional area. The length of your dam is 50yds at lop, 47yds at bottom ; breadth, 30yds at top, 27yds at bottom'; (depth, Syds. Therefore we have for the upper pri8m.1.(147.x30.x3)=- 2205 cubic yards, and for the lower prism & (144 x 27 x 3) = 1914 cubic tyards. Sum = 4149 cubic yards. A 'FARMEnAThe followiag cures for lungworm in ' »heep have< been pretty generally adopted throughout Otago, and as a rule prove effective :— Gure by fumigation : Build a closed ■ sided pen to hold, say, 50 lambs ; place a nailcan in centre, fenced routid to preveat the sheep upsetting it ; 'after filling pen with sheep, place in the nail-dn a few burning khavings, and put on these a handful of powdtred 'lulphur, and at once threw a tarpaulin over all to keep in the fumes ; keep .all closed for five minutes, then throw the tarpaulin off, and let the sheep go. Memo. : Do not on any account use charcoal or allow the embers to accumulate, as the .'fumes caused by sulphur and charcqal are moat poisonous, but with shavings or paper it is «afe.— Cure, by injection : This is the safest - and no doubt bent whea lambs are bad. Inject down the throat of each lamb a mixture composed of one and a-half teaspoonful of turpentine mixed with an equal quantity of raw linseed oil, by means of a small-strong .glass or indiarubber •yrinjje (which maybe procured to 'hold three tea«poonfuls). By having a large can of the mixture, which mixes eanly when warmed, and mutt be constantly stirred, strapped in front or held alongside; a man to hold the lamb and to 'open its "mouth, and men to catch, as many as 3000 to 4000 a daymay be done. Inquirer. — A householder can be nominated as a candidate by snrotaer householder at the annual meeting of householders to elect a.school committee. The nomination may be made by - word of mouth or in writing. Candidates -may be nominated x>n .the day appointed 'by the Education -Board, but it is not accessary to do , so.