NOTES AND QUERIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3470, 14 September 1920, Page 35

NOTES AND QUERIES.

QMitiont tor reply to coming 1«» «» ta » MIT« 4 not UWr than SATURDAY night. will NOT be wplied to thro*s£ the post.

Constant Reader.—Professor Park, to whom your sample was sent for examination, has reported that the material is a blue pug-like clay mixed with nests of triable quartz. It is crushed! country rock, and probably occurs along the plane of a fault or shear zone. It has no commercial value. A- G- A.—The address of the parents of the deceased officer was not given in with the "notice. The directory shows that there are two persons of the same name at Tawanui, and one at Ratanui, in the Catlins district. Novice—lt would bo possible, but a storage battery would be required. Messrs Hayes and Sons, Oturehua, Central Otago, it ■written to, would probably give you valuable information, as they drive machinerj by electricity generated by windmills.

Pioneer asks the approximate freight on a crate, packed weight 40lb, dimensions about 3ft X 2ft x 2ft, from Sydney to Dunedin. The approximate cost would be about 10s 6d. Inquirer—The subject of your inquiry is married and resides at Apia, Samoa. D. T. asks if it is true that ".a man named Alexander Gillanders dropped 600 ft down a shaft at the Kaitangata Mine. The accident happened about seven years ago, and Gillanders is still alive. Tbe facts as stated are correct, —the distance dropped was 580 ft, and! the man is still alive. L. H. C. asks for a recipe for parsnip -wine. Take 15lb of sliced parsnips and boil them till quite soft in sgal of water; drain the liquor thoroughly from them, run the pulp through a fine sieve/return the liquor into the boiler, and add 3lb of loaf sugar to every gallon. Boil the whole for three-quarters of an hour. When tepid, lay a toast covered with yeast in it, cover, and keep in a warm place. When it begins to ferment put into a cask, and take out the toast. It should not be racked till the autumn, nor bottled till six months afterwards. Adhesive asks for a recipe for whitewash. — '—The following is suitable for inside work. —Dissolve 2lb of ordinary glue in seven pints of water, and when all is dissolved add 6oz bichromate of potassium dissolved in a pint of hot water. Stir -the mixture up well, and then add sufficient whiting to make it up to the usual consistency. - Apply with a brush in the ordinary manner as quickly as possible. This dries in a very short time, and by the action of light becomes converted into a perfectly insoluble water-proof substance, which does not wash off, and at the same time does not give rise to mould, as whitewash made up with size often does. This may be coloured to any desired shade by the use of a trace of any aniline dye or powdered colouring, while by the addition of a small proportion of calcic sulphite it 3 antiseptic power is much increased. Glue is used to .make the wash adhere to the walls. The following is said to be durable and to act equally as well as paint on wood, brick, or stone.—■ Slake half a bushel of unslaked lime with boiling water, keeping it covered during the process. Strain it and add a peek of salt dissolved in warm water, 31b of f;round rice put injjoiling water and boiled o a thin paste, and stirred in while hot; £lb best . powdered whiting, and lib best glue, which has been dissolved. Add five gallons of water to the mixture. Stir well, cover the vessel, and let the wash stand for a few days. Keep the wash thus prepared in a portable boiler, and when used put it on as hot as possible with painter's or white-wash brushes. E. A., Fair lie, wishes to know (1) How to prevent mice from gnawing well-greased leather. (2) A safe way of poisoning mice in a granary among chaff and oats, so that there would be no danger to horse feed, etc. Agricola replies:—(l) The only way known is to kill the mice. (2) I have not heard of a successful method for poisoning mice -without some slight risk to animals. In Journal of Agriculture, page 178, Vol. xiv, an article on rats and their destruction, by B. C. Aston, Chemist, might prove of use to you. Puzzled.—Mr H. M. Davey replies:—" I wish you had said more, so the only thing to say, in the meantime, is to suppose you know the formation of a gauge-box. It is to be set level, to be 12ft long, to be 20in wide inside -measurement, and to be rather more. than 15m deep. Then, close to the delivery end, there is a, piece of wood across the box. and so it is 20in long, and 2in deep or high, and it is for the water to spill over. Then, above that, is tha opening, which in your case is to be 3in by (of course) 20in long. Then the board at the end, which, being 1 3in from the firstmontioned one', is to be 10in deep or high, so that you may get a head of water of lOin above the' opening. There is, of ' course, /mother way of measuring water which would be of simpler construction, and if you wanted to know about it full particulars could be sent to you, or a sketch of the gauge-box could be sent to you if you want to make one and do not know how to do it." Hillersden Buhax, Blenheim!.—Mr H. M. Davey, consulting engineer, Princes street, replies: ".Thanks for your clear description. There seems to bo no doubt but that a damp course would''be advisable if the concrot© is laid on the ground, and fine asphalt, with a generous allowance of "tar, would be hard to beat for the job, and it should be under the concrete, mot between it and the cement, and be about ljin to 2in thick. There is -another way that I have successfully adopted to save filling, in places of 7ft or Bft span, and it is to get thin rough

lining (Jin boards), bending them over a centre support, the concrete being 6in to 7in thick at the walls and 3in to thick in the middle. Again, a very successful floor about Bft span was made by rubbish, including even carpenters' rubbish and shavings being heaped up from all sides to the centre, the concrete being 01 the above thicknesses, but like a groined arch —that is, arched every way to the centre; The concrete was laid on this, the mound fell away some inches later on, and the floor is perfectly dry though under a we. bank, and it is now 20 or 21 years old, eo it has been well tested. That place was Bft x Bft. If I were doing what you seem to propose the small places could be as one of the above, when there would be p space between the concrete and the ground, and larger places could be made with, a damp course on solid ground. I communicated with the Cement Company here and was confirmed in my opinion that the damp course should be below the concrete. Finally, I have been told that concrete floors that have no, damp course have been found to be dry when left without covering, or when covered with a carpet, but sometimes have developed dampness when linoleum was laid over them In any such a case a covering of a substance called mattwd has been found to prevent any dampness. This was cemented to the cement ol the concrete floor by the special cement they sell. Maltboid can be got almost anywhere, but Mr G. L. Denmston is the Dunedin agent for it should you require any. Malthoid could then be the" top covering, or linoleum could be added oyer it when the floor would ve very elastic and comfortable. Let the editor know how youa* on,, and write again if you desire further information.