NOTES AND QUERIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2231, 3 December 1896, Page 38

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Questions for reply in coming issue to be received not later than Monday night.

Inquisitive writes :— My mate and I had an argument which I would like you to decide in jfthe Notes and Queries column of your next issue. I asserted . that more words in the English language owed thoir origin either dir. ctly or indirectly to the Latin than to any other tongue. He contended that I was wrong. I suppose it would be almost impossible for you to give even an approximate p-oportion of the words so derived We have submitted vein 1 question to an authority on tbe subject, who kindly informs us that, taking all the words in ' a standard dictionary, about 68 per cent, are of Latin origin ; in an average English novel (c g , "Jane Eyre") about 60 per cent. ; but that in ordinary colloquial English probably the majority of the words used are of Anglo-Saxon origin. J. V., Tapanui. — The accompanying signature to the letter was not} ours, nor was the writiug similar to that in your letter of inquiry. Nicotine— To deal with the sflbject fully would take up more: spac4 than we can afford in Notei and Queries, but the fol'owihg hii.ts may be of use to you :— Seed for tobacco should be sown during July, in a' place free or protected from frost, so as to get strong plants for setting out about the middle or end of Septem- " ber. • The soil should be light and rich, with some wood ashes' mixed in it. Burnt e.irfch is often recommended as a good mixture with the soil of the seed bed. When all chance of night frost is over, the plants cap be put out just like cabbages, and must be regularly hoed, watered, and weeded: Caterpillars- must be looked for every morning from first 1 till last. All suckers and lateral shoots must be pinched away, and when there are eight leaves the two bottom ones should be pulled off, as they will only spoil dn the ground. Then, when the plant has ten leaves, pinch off the top bud. A few days afterf ter a lot of shoots will appear at the bases of the leaves. These shoote. must bs pinched out. Br-and-bye the leaves will begin to show yellowish mottled spots. If a leaf is then bent it will crack across, and such mottled leaves are ready to pick. About a dozen leaves are gathered, tied together by the stems, and hung up to dry 1 in a shed. The leaves that are not mottled are left a few days longer, and so on until all are picked and dried. A fresh ■ growth will take place from suckers, and the leaves may be also | gathered for second-class tobaoco. Reader. ;-(l and 2) Yes, if the committee authorise it. (3) The teacher may utilise some o/ the scholars as monitors. If your children i are under 13 and have not passed the Fourth Standard you must send them to school. (4) ' Yes. Zero.— Cost of silver-plated plate 2ft x 2ft would be about 60s. (2) There is no trouble in applying the mercury to them. (3) You will require to give the plate a little more mercury as soon as the amalgam formd. Scrape this off with a piece of sole leather, and then pour a little over the plate. In coating the plate the first time use a little cyanide of potassium dif solved in water. (4) A. and T. Bint, of Dunedin, make a specialty of this class of work. Bush Farmer.— Will be replied toby "Agricola" in due course. Country Reader.— (l) If your neighbour gave you proper notice and you paid no attention to it you may have to pay half tbe cost. ' You should have applied to the magistrate to decide whether the fence was needed. (2) You would present your friend to the ladies, not the ladies to your friend : Mr Montgomery— Misa Montmorency, Miss Evelyn Montmorency. ' S. W. — To remove mildew from linen rub the place well with soap, then rub ia some pulverised chalk. Lay it on the grass, and as the spot dries wet it a little, and the mildew will come out with a second application. W. C. — If there is scurf in your head it must first be cuvad by the application night and morning of a little 10 percent, oleate of mercury ointment. This may possibly require some time. Then apply the following :— Tincture of cantharides ldr, lanolin 6dr, almond oil 2dr. W. W.-(l) The Minister of Railways, Wellington ; but you had better get the member for the district to forward your interests. (3) Of course, and will probably have to wait tome time. K. 6., Gore.— The names of the plants you send are :^-(l) Lomaria fluviatilis, order Filicea ; (2) Pteris scaberula, order Filicea: (3) Thelymitra longifolia, order Orchideae; (4) Luzula campestris, order Junceos ; (5) too young, no flower: (6) Celmisia longifolia, order Compositea; (7) Celmisia bellidioides, order' Compositea ; (8) too young, no flower. Berwick.— (l) The Regulation of Local Elections Act aays nothing as to turning down and gumming the corner of the voting paper, (v!) A ratepayer has a right, subject to the pro vinious of any bylaws on the subject, to inspect and take copies of the account books and s,ee items of expenditure. Smoky Kitchen.— Use the concentrated soda the same as you would washing soda. The advantage over the latter is that the concentrated is very much stronger, and hence much less labour is expended in the use of the scrubbing brush. ' You can tell by the feel of the water when you have it strong enough. Beekeeper. — Your question could hardly be answered within tbe limits of Notes and Queries. "Novice," in the Apiary Column, will make " Choosing % Location " the subject of his next . contribution, to, which wb refer you. Inquirer, Owaka, aeks how to bend the handle of amoka walking stick or of a hardwood stick into a half-circle. Crooks may be turned by immersing the end in boiling water for from five to ten minutes, then bending it to the desired- form aud securing it in this position with a tourniquet until the stick ia cold. A Constant Readkr.— Mr C. W. Adams, chief surveyor, kindly supplies the following information Jft JettfaL & SOW.AUejori^'jSftSt. traca

"•^triangulation " is a term borrowed from the great Indian survey, where such great areas are required to be triangulated and results wanted sooner than they could be obtained in the slower and more thorough method of polygonal triangulation. " Ray trace " is sometimes called the "gridiron" system, by which the distance between two distant points is found more readily. "Radiating" triangulation, on- the contrary, is where the triangleß radiate in every direction from a central base, and is the same as polygonal triangulation. Carpenter.— Beading plane, 2s 9d ; rabbate plane, 3s; at Paterson and Barr's, Princes street. Ignoramus.— Any medicine capable -of .allaying pain is called an anodyne. Some are taken internally and some applied externally. Opium, for instance, is an anodyne. An anodyne causing sleep is called a soporific, and if it rapidly diminishes the circulation it is called a sedative.