NOTES AND QUERIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3276, 27 December 1916, Page 39

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Questions 'or reply in coming issue to bo re>eeived not later than SATURDAY night. Questions will NOT be replied to through the post. •"' Nemo.—The post office regulation says that stamps may be cut from post-cards, lettercards, and embossed envelopes, and may be used as adhesive stamps for letters, etc. Your case evidently comes under this heading. Anxious to Know.—The administration of the Act i 3 in the hands of the Public Health Department. We believe that a communication from your district has reached the department, and action is being taken. The Minister in charge has pubi.cly announced that he has given instructions to have the provisions of the Act rigidly enforced. Experiment, Southland, wishes to know at what stage of growth to cut lucerne plant to do least harm. Presumably you refer to young plants. It is usual to cut, say, at about Bin high, leaving a stubble of not less than 3in, and avoid above all things hurting the crown of the plants. This cutting is left as a mulch on the ground to protect and encourage the shooting of the young seedling single stem lucerne plant. Inquirer asks for a recipe for black currant wine. To every two gallons of water put five quarts of currants and one pint of raspberries if desired. Allow this to soak for 12 hours. Squeeze and masli thoroughly, and on the following day rub well on a fine wire sieve till all the juice is expressed. Wash skins again with some of the liquor. To every gallon of juice put 41b of loaf sugar. Turn it immediately, and lay bung of cask lightly on, and leave linuor to ferment. In two or three days add brandy in proportion of a quart to every four gallons. Bung it closely, but leave vent peg out for a few days. Keep in cask for six months, and then bottle off. Farmer. —A cure for hay fever is a very uncertain thing. Any internal disease of the nose, if present, should be attended to. The local application of tincture of belladonna (BfcP.) in some cases affords temporary relief. Adrenalin chloride has also been used in the form of a very weak solution, and the nose sprayed thoroughly with it. This solution has also been used for bathing the eyes when affected by hay fever. R. N. C, Taieri.—Mr H. M. Davey replies: " With regard to your inquiry as to the best and simplest' way to tell the capacity of various receptacles, I would ask you to remember one fact that will be of assistance to you at all times in this matter. Water weighs exactlv 10lb per imperial gallon; therefore half a gallon is slb, a quart a pint ljlb, and a half-pint lOoz. Any container, if weighed on a scale with a pan on one side and weights on the other, is best weighed by balancing the empty container with a lighter basin, adding water enough to balance, thus leaving the weights free, and the capacity is found by the above tables. Thus a five gallon tin should hold 501 b of water. If this does not fill it, you might make a mark'where a given number comes to, so as always to know that quantity, you could mark where each gallon comes to. For a spring balance o patent scale it is better to add weight to the empty container to a given number of pounds. Thus, if the jug weighed 9Jlb, add enough to make it 101 b, and then proceed as above. I have heard

persons who ought to know better say that a pint of water and a pint of milk are not the same bulk; but that is utterly wrong. True milk, like oil, is lighter than water; but a pint is a measure of capacity, and a pint of melted lead, oil, or water, though of vastly different weights, have the same bulk, and fill the pint pot to the same height. The reaso.is for obtaining the capacity by means of water are that it is better and cleaner to handle water than expensive liquids, and also that water, weighing exactly a given number of pounds to the gallon, eases the calculation, as you will readily see. I am afraid that if you try various tins, jugs, bottles, etc., you will find that the capacity is often very scrimpy, and in some cases much below the mark."