NOTES AND QUERIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2892, 11 August 1909, Page 51

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Questions for reply in coming issue to Im netired aot later than MONDAY night. Constant Reader. — (1) The sources from which the w*ter supply of London is obtained *re numerous, asd we cannot state definitely from which particular source the largest quantity i» obtained, although it is most likely from the Thames Valley. In 1994 the- undertakings of the various companies supplying- water wer« taken,, over by the newly-created- Metropolitan Water Board. The companies were: East London, New River. Grand Junction. "West Middlesex. Lambeth, Southwark and Yanxhall, Obelsea* "Kent, and Staine* Beservoirs Joint Committee. Th© net cost of tho acquisition was £5\ ,149,035 cash, while the debenture stock taken over amounted to • £11,621,248. The board's works include 62 storage reservoiTS. 161 filters, 78 service reservoirs, 53 wells am? springs, and 37 pumping stations other than welle. The area of supply covers 53^.703 miles, and comrrrises tha vrhole of the administrative county of London, and parts of Essex, Hert* | ford. Kent. Middlesex, and Surrey. The J total quantity of water supplied in 1907-8 waa 80.170 867.952 gai:on«. (2) The name "London." strictly ?peakingr. belongs only to the city ar.d Liberties, and up to the end of the eighteenth century the distinction •was always m-ade between London and Westminster and Southwark. The area of the city is 673 acres, and by 1901 the population had dwindled down to 26 923. The number of inhabited hcu-es iv that year was 8565 and of uninhabited 6199. The administrative County of London was formed in 1888, and comprises*, including the city. - 4.839 acres. Create- London (consisting of the Metropolitan Poice and Cay Police districts) contains 443,420 acres. Tommy.— "*V"« believe the "Brain P^t" in the Hot Lakes district is so cal!-ed because of the resemblance which che boiling mud beaTs to the convolutions of a brain, very jrreatly magnified, iust as the ".Porridge Pot" is so cslle3 because of 'is reseniolance to Ifce bailing, bubbling; and wriohirg of porridge being cooxed on a nre. iNQtriHEB.— It is doubtful If you could procure, -except from private persons a geography devoted mainly to Ireland. Longiran's geography, in use in the Boys High School, contains » relief m«p and a pape map showing the divisions of Ireland, ana gives a fair amount of information concerning that country. It can be procured from J Braithwaite, Dunedin. and possibly from other booksellers. The price is 3s, posted 3s fid. , Waitoru.— lt is doubtful if you can replace the solution used by the manufacturers to make the light motoring or fishing coat ; Tho solution has evidently " perished. Bubber, if boiled in oil, would cause tha rubber to " perish." Probably the bast you ca-n do is to procure the rubber solution used by bicycle manufa-ctuxers. and after removing the ragged 1 edges of the present material, use the .rubber solution as a pf.ict. (2) To make cracknels: Mix with a quart of flour half a nutmeg grated the beaten yolks of foui eggs, and four ■teaspoonfuls of rosewatei. Convert these into a stiff past* with cold water; then roll in one pound of butter, and cut tlu paste into cracknel shapes. Put them in a kettle of boiling watei. and boil th«m till they swim; then taka them out and tmt them into cold water. When hardened lay them out to dry, and bake them on tin plates. J. A.— The following is the method of making Bordeaux mixture (summer solution) for spraying fruit trees: — Take 61b of sulphate of - copper (bhiesrtone), 4lb slacked lime. 22 gallons water. Dissolvt the 61b of bluestone in 4 gallons of hot water ; dissolve 4lb of quick-lime • in 2 gallons cf water. When ccol mix and make up to 22 gallons with more water. Strain and keep constantly stirred while using, ilont»uk, manufactured by Messrs iCimmo and Blair, and obtainable in any quantity from one pint upwards, i.» preferred by many for coping with fungofd and in=ect pets on fruit tree?. J. M'BL, Cave— (l) So far as we are aware

the Government does not pay the keepers of accommodation houses any sum for providing swaggers one feed and a shakedown. The keepers of such houses are not compelled by Act of Parliament to do as you suggest. The fees paid by the keepers of accommodation houses are lower than those paid foi a publican's license. The act provides that accommodation house licensee " may be granted on the terms of repairing or keeping in repair any road or bridge in the vicinity of such" premises, or providing good accommodation for travellers, or on such of- the former or such other terms as the Licensing Committe( thinks fit. (2) Station holders -to not compelled by Act of Parliament to give swaggers one feed and a shake-down. (3) A person may be declared an habitual criminal if previously convicted on at least two ocoasions of offence 3 mentioned in class I of the Crimes Act. oi has been previously convicted on at least four occasions of oifences mentioned in class 11. (4) The stakes in the Burns-Johnson contest was for a purse of £7500, and was divided as follows: JE6QOD to Burns, win. lose, or draw, and £1100 to Johnson, with three first class passages from London and Sydney and back. X. Y.- Z.— Amy Bock pleaded guilty to two charges and. was sentenced to two years' imprisonment o» each charge, the sentences to run concurrently. That means two years altogether. She was also declared in hsibitual criminal, which may imply detention for life, a3 slie will not be released until the authorities are convinced she has reformed and is not likely to offend again. Ignotcs writes: — I have a unheated spanroof glass house, 20ft by 9ft wide and Bft high, a path up the middle, with two borders each 3ft wide. I put 20 tomato plants in each border, *nd grow them to a, single stem. The blooms eet for fruit a little more than 2ft high, and though there are blooms for two or three feet higher, none of these blooms set, although. I slightly shake the plants to distribute the pollen. Tht result is, that I don't get hardly 3ib of fruit from each plant. I renew iiir border -with good meadow loam each year. The question was submitted to Mr H. Clarke, North-East Valley, gardener foi Mr R>- Glendining, and a well-known expert, who kindly replies: The falling of the bloom on tomatoes may be due to various causes, such as excessive heat, and an atmosphen of a stuffy nature through insufficient ventilation ; or it may j be lue to the place where they are growing being too wet owing to bad drainage; or it may, on the other hand, be due to want of sufficient water, the plants being kept too dry at the roots. Another car.se may be the planting in looeb ground so that the plants grow too rapidly and are spindley and weak *nd not able to carry | a gcod crop. To grow a good crop of tomatoes give them good light loam, made firm by treaaing; good drainage befcre planting; plenty of good ventilation, and keep moist ?.t the roots — but not too wet — until the crop is advanced and ripening, then less can *nd should be used. Tcmsitoes will not stand extremes of any kind. Until more- details are available as to how your correspondent's- plants have been grown I could not say to which of the causes stated tfie trouble is due. Amateur Cai.ctji.atob submits the following figures as the reply to a query by Novice a.s to what the amount would be if a penny had been invested at 8 per cent, compound intsrest at the birth of Christ, up to June 30. 1909:— £456190.010,678,654,268,039,663.842,775,270,347 14s Hid. Old Subscriber.— You do not say what you desire to have analysed. The charges vary considerably If you want on araysis made cf soil, it would be well to com- , niunirate with Mr Aston, chief chemist ' for the Department of Agriculture, who , would send you a form tc be filled up and give the necessary directions as to j how the s.imple is to be taken. | J. D., Okarito.— Mr H. M. Davey, consultin** engineer, Princes street, replies: — I am exceedingly pleased that my replies have baen of so much help to you and glad th*t I showed you the way to calculate the water capaoity of flumes for yourself, seeing that you can make such treed use' of the information. As you write. 6ft wide by 13in deer is rather larger than 7ft wide by llin deep, but more than that — Hnd I do* not wi<=h yov to lo?e sight of this fact— the friction both wet and diy . is smaller, the wet beins, Bft ?in and the j dry 6ft. against the shallower, which has a wet friction of Bft 10."n ?r.d a diy one at top of 7ft. As ycu know, the Bfi 2m is 6ft wwo at the bottom and twice 13m at the sides: and the Bft lOin is 7ft wide at the bottom and twice llm at tho aides. Then again the dry. or air. friction is less by lft in the oi.« 6ft wide than in the one 7ft wide This lessened friclioi is considerable, the orly pr.psible exception being that if the wii.d is blowing strongly down stream, it is considerable at the top purface as well, and les'ened friction rarons j that more water is carried, and that more j swift'y. Now, about your question. I do rot think that there is any correct number ' of buckets, thousrb I will try and find out. but I would' suggest that you watch both wheels mid judge from them if you think the buckets take th«. water cleanly and well 9 Try if you can, and put rather more water o.i each in turn and again see how they tako the increased supply. Does the wate. land right over them that are they overshot wheels 1 ' or do the wheels Uirn towaids the water ac pome do? whereby I believe consider- , able power is lost. I think you will find ' that it is more the dcith of tho l.url'ets ar.d their capacity to take the water you are likely to bring to them in a clea i sharp manner, without splashing that is more needed than the exact number of bucket?, and I would be disposed to think that if the buckets were a different number ( on H;e wheels i + might 1-e an advantage, or if both wheel" h?fl the same number of buckets they should take the water at <l?fierent -Hitte«. the working would te^d to be smoother than if both wheel* took the water in each bucket at Mie fame moment Write a^win n nd «=av hn-A you hive 'uoccederl whe-n your r Iterations are fini=herl .or before if yon need anvthinjr more T"D.i?cl 'to. as it is be«t i•> he ceitain than (o think that questions bother, for they do r.ol. W. 11. W. "Wpetporf — Would :>dvs*e vov la ke^p to pice. Election manifestos i" rhyme i r e vi in dem"nd If you submit t;,e -=uhefance oi votsr vpi-es l". a Irtter to the chtor we shall reithlv publi-h it Pkt-.pi.exfd — Tii? white sr,ot<: on ■'he stiawbsrrv le.if which you forwarded ?.re the T—i't rf b'.ieht. duo to the bad =ta'.° "f" f (I'<» ,;'a.its T^e nlsn's should 1 r .-p-ivfl at once, vitli *he Bordeaux 'jiixture windD!~.\ pos-jib'.v check the blight Strawbcmp'ainls fehcn!d be placed in new srourstl every second year, ancl it is probable that

by neglecting to do this that the trouble has arisen L. A. — The sarnpk of clay which you forwarded was submitted to Mr G. M. Thomson, F.L.S., analytical chemist, who has been good enough to repor f as follows: — The sample of clay contains a considerable proportion of gypsuui o- sulphat° <.. irue, together with a small amount of sulphate rf magnesia. It would be of no value ■whate.ver r but _ rather the reverse, as a top dressing foi land, though it is just possible that or. light, readily-drained land it niight prove useful -ftei it had been weathered for a time.