NOTES AND QUERIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3384, 22 January 1919, Page 39

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Questions for reply In coming lsiue to t* r* •eiT«d not later than SATURDAY night. Questions will NOT U replied to through th« post.

Hygienic asks:—"(l) If fish caught around wharves, etc., are fit for human consumption. (2) Is typhoid contra ctibkv through eating euch fish?" (1) Under- ordinary circumstances the fish should bo quit© right. A confined harbour where sewage is discharged would make the fish objectionable; but where there is a free flowing tide, and provided they are not caught immediately in the vicinity of the sewage outfall, they should be quite fit for food. (2) There- is a possibility -of typhoid being contracted through eating fish caught in proximity to a sewage outfall. Inquirer asks: —"(1) What quantity per aero of the Tinder mentioned seeds would be deemed a good mixture on limed ground when ryegrass is being saved first year: Tycgrass, cowgrass, dogstail, red and white clover, alsike, and timothy? (2) Recipes for plum and grape wines." "Agricola" replies:—"-Ryegrass, a bushel of good seed; cowgrass, 3lb; red clover, 3lb; whit© clover, lilb°; alsike, ljlb; crested dogstail; l^lb; timothy, lib;—say 321 b per acre." (2) Plum wine: To every gallon of water put 2Jlb of sugar, boil for three-quarters of an hour, and then skim. To every gallon of this mixture put • five pints of stoned plums; let the liquor boil till it is a fin© colour, then strain through a hair sieve; work it in an open vessel for three- or four days; pour it off from th© l©es into a cask, and allow it to work as long as it will; then stop it close and leave undisturbed for six or eight months, when it may be bottled In a year and a-half it will b© in excellent condition for drinking. (3) Grape wine is mad© as follows: Th© grapes should be gathered when fully ripe, freed from the stalks, and throughly bruised, care being taken not to crush the stones, which would impart a rough and disagreeable taste to the. wine; they must have the juice completely pressed out of them, either by wringing them in a coarse cloth or by means of a press. To every gallon of the juice from lib to 2lb of sugar must be added, or even more if the juice does not - possess considerable sweetness. Set the liquor in a place where the temperature is about 60deg, which is th© usual warmth of rooms. The fermentation will begin in a day or two, when th© wine may ho put into the cask designed to receive it. As the fermentation proceeds the scum will be thrown up, and th© cask must be kept filled with some reserved juice. If the temperature be below 60deg, or the fermen-

tation bo scarcely perceptible, a email portion of yeast must be used so as to make it work before it is put into the cask. When it has been sufficiently long in the cask for the fermentation to subside, or nearly so, the bung must be driven in, first clearing away all impurities from the bung-hole and filling up the cask. The vent-peg must be left out for a few days; it should afterwards be inserted slightly and occasionally loosened to admit of the escape of the carbonic acid gas. When all fermentation has entirely ceased, which win be known by hearing no hissing noise at the bung-hole, the peg must be driven in tightlv, and the wine may then be lett throughout the winter, or longer, as may be desired.

Father.—The address to make application and to forward the book to is Quarter-master-general (4), Brandon street, Wellington.

Englishman.—Freely translated, the Maori and Latin on the Christmas card-mean: "Be strong for ever and ever." Fortune favours the brave."

Anxious, Riversdale, writes in connection with his potatoes being destroyed by slugs and wire-worms. One can only .reply in general terms. The enemy is within the gate 3, and there is no royal way of getting them to "move on." There are two means of checking the ravages of insect pestsprevention and remedy. By preventive methods the appearance of the pest is forestalled, and either the surroundings are made too uninviting to induce it to stay, or the crop is maintained in so vigorous a condition that the insects are unable to effect- any injury upon it. Remedial measures usually involve the application to the infested crop of substances which will either kill the insects or drive them away. Amongst the materials thus employed are quicklime, soot, sulphate of copper, paraffin, : which might be tried by any of the numerous appliances invented to facilitate the application of these substances to the growing plants. Ducks do a great deal in the way ,of destroying slugs.

W. A., Lumsden, sends specimen of grass for identification, and queries' its worth. "Agricola" replies:—"The plant is - couch grass (Triticum repens), and may be looked upon as a weed of arable land. It is not a cultivated grass. The labour of cleaning land from couch is most troublesome. Small pieces of the underground stem, if left in the ground, _ will grow, each fragment growing as an independent plant, and is capable of infesting a large area. It is no friend of the farmer, and serves on occasion as a propagator of rust. Although a pest of arable lands, one can imagine that it has a certain value (a email one) in loose sands. This plant is the time couch, and is a fearsome weed at times, although botanically related to wheat. The so,-called couches are but "twitch" (Poas) or "bent" (Agrostis) grasses, bad enough, too, when growing in the wrong place.

Old Subscriber, Otekaike.—Mr H. M. Davey replies:—"ln this matter I consulted Mr E. C. Holmes, an asphalter, and he very kindly replied that the material you mention should not be mixed with the_ body of the asphalt, but you can put in the top dressing if you like, when it will act as a carpet, and do as yoxx say."

J. G-. S. T.—" Rusty Cuss" writes to say that the words of the song "Wrap me in my old stable jacket" are by G-. J. WhyteMelville (1821-78), the air by Charles Coote.