NOTES AND QUERIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2806, 25 December 1907, Page 51

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Qxuttionf for rtply in coming iuuTto 6« received not lour than UOtfDAY night. Taieei Grass.— Samples of. a grass which has lately made its appearance .on - ™™™ a farms in the Taieri district, including .that of Mr Wm. Shand, Keith Hall, brought to the Witness office, were forwarded to Mr G. M. Thomson, F.L.S., who is good enough to reply as follows:— The grass' cent is Glyceria fluit«ns, a speoies introduced from Britain, and which was first gathered in the Taieri over 30 ye*r« ago. It grows, as a rule, in wet ground, and is a gocd pas- • ture grass for such localities. Expectant. — The geographies . published do not afford much information' concerning the counties. You will find ■in -the "New Zealand Year Book particulars of the area and population of the various counties, and if you procure a railway mao. such as is issued with the Government Railway Time Table at a nominal price; you will ba able to ascertain their situation. Avxious.— We have been unable to obtain information about the Austin Baldwin Bros.' Express Company, or -as -to their , place of business. The other express companies are 'apparently not awaxe of the existence of such a firm. Peihans 'some of oux North Island renders may be able, to supply some particulars as to whether such a- firm carried on business recently in some centre of the North Island. Housekeeper. — To mak« inexpensive lemonade: (1) Two ounces of citric acid, 30 drops of essence of. lemon, 3lb sugar, -the rind and juice ,of two lemons^ * quart of water. The lemon rind sad water is- to be boiled for 10 minutes and then- strained. (2) One pint boiling water, lib ragar. loz tartaxic acid, 20 drops of essence of lemon. SEerujo Sttobipt, Fair&eld. — H. M. Davey, coneultin* engineer, 01* Princes street, replies: — Thia is one of the m»ny things that is only found out as they occur, and then from the observed facts tables ace formed for the guidance of those following. Many of the engineering and other tables are made in this manner, for in fact there is no other way in many cases. For this- reason it wou^d be a good, thing for those who hove the chance of making observations to do so with care, " and so form tables and ses if those usually acepted are correct. Inqutsbb. Hi'.!encL— Mr H. M. Davey, consulting engineer, : " I would much prefer thiai you would state about the quantity of water to be raised, the wmer you intend to work with, «nd the. height to which the , water is to be raked, and the approximate length of piping to be used. What you * call a smalt quantity some might call « hvrge quantity, etc.. ae you will see. Without knowing really enough to answer properly* it, seems to noint to » small centrifugal pump, but depending on other circumstances it. might, however, be one of the special force-pumps that are mttde for country use, and are capable of being used by hand or power «s needed." J. S.< Otama. — Mr H. M. • Davey replies: " With the small amount of information sent and no knowledge of the locality your question is difficult to reply to. Have others near you sunk wells, and. if so, did they find the conditions as bad as you do? The difficulty of goint- deeper, even if that would cure your trouble, is that you would .be liable to soakage from the bad place you have got to, unless you. barrel was watertight, which it probably would not be. If you find it. gets no better, write again, first finding out. if others hav^had ' . the same trouble— that is, if it ia a general trouble or- local to -you alone, — and I- will get another opinion." G. H. M.— There is no" place in New Zealand, so far as we can- ascertain, where you can get a new handle for a cricket bat. There is at least one man in Dunedin -who can transfer a handle from one blade *b another. The difficulty is in getting handles to suit blades. Our cricket contri- , butor will reply to your request for averages for 1876. ' - f .Wtndham.— We shall cause a search fo be made through the files for the case you Tefer to. X. — We hajre written to t the inventor of the instrument referred to. and on receipt of his reply it will be published. Gardener. — Two -or three correspondents wrote in our columns some time ago stating :tb«.t tfc« *sli of Canterbury brown coal -arms * fertiliser. So far as the Otago brown conJ and lignite ash is concerned, the general opinion appears to be that owing to the presence oi so much sulphur, etc., it is injurious. to plant growth.