NOTES AND QUERIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3383, 15 January 1919, Page 35

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Questions for reply in coming Issue to be reeeiv«& not l»ter than SATURDAY night. Questions wiU NOT be replied to through ♦he post.

Kctjgh I>ay asks (1) -when the last election ■was held? (2) Has there been an election since war was declared ? (3) When did Mr Ma&sey become Prime Minister? (4) The date the National Government was formed ? 10, 1912. (4) August 12, 1915. Anxious.—The usual method of bottling peas is as follows: —Fill the bottles with young, freshly-gathered peas, add a teaspoonful of salt and half a gill of water to each bottle, and cork lightly. Put the bottles into a stockpot lined with hay or straw, boil fast for half an hour, withdraw from the fire, see that no bottles leak, screw down, and keep in a cool place. A Mother.—There is no allowance made for officers' children. The wife only is in receipt of an allowance—namely, 8s a day. Anxious. —There seems to be no particular meaning atached to the fact of three people shaking hands at the same time, though as three is called a "lucky" number, one might consider the omen a favourable one. In the case of four people shaking hands across each other, the fact that the cross is a symbol of sorrow and suffering has led to the idea that such a thing is "unlucky." Sensible people, however, pay no attention to these trivialities, and there is certainly no need to ba "anxious" about them. J. G-. S. T. wants to know who wrote the words of the song, " Wrap me up in my old stable jacket." Perhaps some of our readers may be able to supply the information wanted. Coins.—A correspondent writes that as he is desirous of making a collection of the ISB7 coinage, he would like to be placed in communication with you. _ If you forward your name and address -this will be sent on to the correspondent if you so desk-*. E. C, Oamaru.—The matter yo\; refer to appeared in pur advertising columns. It

appeared in the issue of December 27 last. Curious.—(l) A tradesman in the Government railways designate a man employed in the Government Workshops as carpenter, plumber, otc. It would be necessary to join when a youth and serve an apprenticeship. (2) A traffic labourer is a porter. (3) Wages are:—Single men, 9s a day and Is a day war bonus—i.e., 10s a day; married men 12s a day. _"..' . R. H., Otautau. —Professor J. Blackie in his book, " Scottish Songs," says the " Land o' the Leal" was "composed by Baroness Nairne. : ' Scots wha hae," etc., was composed by Burns to the tune of "Hey, Tuttie, Tattie." Some books ascribe this latter tune to both. There is a very slight difference in the notation. Both are written in two-four time—-that is, notes "\ to 'the value of two crotchet beats in a bar;_ but the great 'difference between the two is. in the rendering. The-' " Land o' the Leal"is taken .at va slow tempo, while "Scots wha hae" is taken at a <fuick martial tempo. • Subscribes asks: .'"What is the cause of clubroot in cabbage, and the treatment for, it?" -Authorities are not agreed as .to the cause of clubroot in cabbage, some contending that it is caused by the myxomycetous fungus, Plasmodiophera brassicse, while others are of opinion that it is due - to the larvse of the Centorhynchus subicollis, a maggot without legs, yellowishwhite in appearance, with deep-wrinkled body of a soft and pulpy nature. This pest causes similar excrescences on the turnip to those found on cabbage plant roots, and one worm is found in each excrescence when cut open. Whichever contention may be right, the treatment is the same. If possible, give up the ground to a. crop having no affinity to the diseased one for two or three years, and also give a dressing of .lime to.'purify it and kill any of the pesis- remaining in it: A change of ground is usually found efficacious; but if this is not possible, give the ground a dressing of lime, and prior to putting in the plants dip them into a mixture of soot and clay, allowing as much to adhere to the roots as possible. This not only checks the pest, but gives the young plants a good start, and if they are. kept steadily growing the result will be satisfactory. Argument.—The s.s. "Tyrone was wrecked at Wahine Point, QXp-go Peninisula, about a mile and a-half #Buth of Otago Heads, on September 27, 1913. The wrecked vessel could be seen in clear weather from the main north line when travelling between Puketeraki and Seacliff. . All traces of the. wreck have disappeared. Shearer asks the best way to wash and; dye sheepskin mats? Dissolve one bar of soap in two gallons of boiling water. Put , two quarts of tins' into a tub containing about two gallons of warm water. First rub out dirt and grease. spots with : the strong soap liquox, or, *if necessary, with Fuller's earth. Then put the mat into the tub containing the weak soap liquor, and well wash- and punch it. Throw away this first liquor, and mix another lot, \ with the same proportions of;.warm water and dissolved, soap, and again well wmsh. the mat, continuing in this manner until* it is per- : •• fectly clean. Then rinse well in cold water to take out the soap. Wring out, shake, and hang to" dry. with the skin side towards the sun, but not when the heat is scorching, or the skin will become hard-and brittle. It should while drying be fre- : quently shaken, and hung, up • first by one end and then by the other. To djje, use the ordinary dyes to be obtained from oil and colour merchants. Sew a loop of strong cloth on to each corner of the skin. Prepare your dye in a shallow vat or pan that has a large surface. Have the dye hot and the wool damp. Let two persons stand opposite each other, each holding ; two corners of the pelt by the cloth loops, and dip the wool side info Ihe dye bath, nv.oving it gently till all parts are coloured alike. Rinse in the same manner. This

prevents colouring or injuring the skins. Scotty.—Perhaps you do not realise the disabilities under which an official photographer had to carry on his work near the front in France, especially in the case of trcops marching past. Presumably the information they supplied was as accurate as possible, and was passed by the Censor before the photographs were released for publication. The press and public are under a deep 'obligation to the plucky photographers who werit as near the firingline as the higher commands would allow. W. S., Otautau.—Mr H. M. Davey, consulting engineer, replies:—"For determining the quantity in gallons, etc., that a given vessel will hold, you can do so by the number of cubic inches or feet, or else by weight. As 276 cubic, inches contain one Imperial gallon (not American, for that is different), your vessel' would contain 29.21 gallons, or, say, about 29 gallons and If .pints To find the contents by weight iji also most useful, especially in such as cups or jugs, where the cubic inches would hz difficult to determine. You place the empty vessel on. a scale and balance it with • anything handy • (such as a lighter vessel with a. little water poured in to balance it exactly), and then you need only remember that a gallon is 101 b of water; so a quart is 2Jlb, a pint 111 b, and a half-pint lOoz. When once yoii find the

level where the quantity of water comes to in a vessel, in this way, any liquid would have to come to the same level, as gallons go by capacity; and so a gallon of melted lead and one of oil would be the same bulk, but, of course, not the same weight." Progress, Awamoko. —Mr H. M. Davey re> plies: "It is feared that the water would not last as long as you want it, and that 'was the reason that the questions were put, and jthat you were not merely answered an you ask, and no more. With a wheel the size, you mention, it would take about 10fl gallons of water per minute, and if a suitable small turbine could be obtained it might do it. with about 70 gallons per minute. Your fall is on the low mark for a pelton -wheel, or that would have given rather better results; and as it was supposed that you might, perhaps, get a considerable more fall from the race direct, that is why it was suggested, so that, perhaps a pelton wheel could "be used which would be cheaper and give better results than the sort of wheel you mention. A water wheel is best with far more water, and even would work with less fall than you mention. Write again if you want further information." ■

Constant Reader 25 Years.—Mr H. M. Davey, architect, replies: —" If you make good concrete of fine stone; clean and sharp not over about fin to lin in size, with smaller one 3 and a proportion of sand, so as to produce a solid mass, and cement, say, 1 to 5, well mixed together, there seems no possible reason why all the walls should not be 4|in thick, with the 2in to Sin space between the outer walls, whether the house is one or two storeys, and the bolts, 'Z' shaped, heed only b© of stout fencing wire, placed, say, about every 2ft opart horizontally, and every 30in or so.in height. Now, supposing the walls were

built thus, the outer wall would be 12iai thick, and the foundation ought to be, Bay, 2in to Sin wider, with a spiay all round the outside, and,, say, lin or 2in thicker than the walls on the inside; but where the plates are the walls would have to take them, as well. So, then, on walls where the plates come the total thickness should be at least 2 plus 12 plus 2 plus 4 plus to 21in thick, and on other outer walls 4in less, while Gin to 7in thick would do for inner walls, with 4in more on. walls where plates come. Far larger stones may be in the foundation walls. Now, in your last letter you asked for a book, and I did better than I expected, as the- Cement Company of Milburn most) kindly ■ sent me a book to give to you, which was all the more kind, as it is about the last, they had to give away. I can Send thte to ; you if or when you send your name' and address, .which you should have done at first, and I -will send you p, section of the wall as well with the book when I know Where to send it to. Send stamps for book and reply."