NOTES AND QUERIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3475, 19 October 1920, Page 35

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Qneitions tor reply In oominf to" to *• f» Wlt«4 *<* U»er than SATUBDAT nigbt. QtM.tioea will NOT b* leplied to thro*** tk« 'poat ; ; ConstaJnt Reader.—The pamphlet you refer to was. not distributed by the .Education i Department'' or by.' the Education Board. The distribution may have, been made by • the school''teacher or by. the- school com- • mittee ' with the .teacher's - approval. Teachers are allowed a certain amount ; of "•' discretion in providing the children with '. supplementary reading, without ; specific, authority- from the Education Board.. "Handpiece," Ettrick, 'asks.:'. What .are the award-rates for an expert in, shearing shed? '- -There ia no award; for ah "Expert in sheds,in ; this Dominion.- ' can get ■ the rock . deposit tested and analysed'by communicating with Professor Park, Director Otago School of Mines, and sending samples secured as directedVby him. The cost is not heavy comparatively speaking. ' t Query asks:- In a four-handed, game of cribbage, A plays an. 8, B plays a 7 (making 15-2), C plays a 9 (making 24, with 3 holes), D plays go, A plays go, B plays another 7, making 31, covering his firef 7. Does' he take the run?- —Yes, B scores 3 for a run and 2 for makmg 31. The Bird, Kaiwera, -wishes to know bow to cure - goat skins.—First trim all ragged " edges, and remove , as much flesh, etc., as possible without damaging the'pelt; then place the akW on ' somS -, flat surface and proceed, to wash, the wool with warm water and soap, and then with clear water; remove all ' surplus water by scraping or squeezing with a smooth board. Take up skin and shakes it well, place it fleece down on a clean' surface, and take a good handful of alum, to which a little salt is added, and rub it well into pelt. with a rotary motion over all surface equally. Fold the skin, fleece outward, and let it stand for three days. Open and hang the skin for a while, and -then scrape skin with a furrier's knife, always scraping in the same direction; three sprapings are needed to finish the pelt. Discretion must be used in treating strong or weak fibred pelts. % See note on rural topic "Tanning Sheep . ■ Skins," in this issue Otago Witness. Wacheb, Outram, asks whether the Masonio Lodge is a benefit lodge or otherwise?— — ' It is in no sense a. benefit lodge. "Subscribes" requires a recipe for tanning bides so that it is soft-and pliable.—Take the hide when fresh and fold in the ordinary way, and bury in sand for ..about three days, by which time the roots of the hair will bo - decomposed. Then spread it on a floor and pour a couple of bottles of strong vinegar over it. Give it a rub with a brush or broom occasionally till all the .vinegar is absorbed, when the bide may be removed and hung up in the, shade -to be used as required. As a rule the 1 hair will, be . found ' on the . floor on the removal of the hide. The fleshy substance can be removed as the hide is cut for 'iise, when after a few minutes iubhing - it will "be found tough ancLpliable. Bluebell. —It is difficult sometimes to trace back the origins of place names. ' The Welsh "Aber" and the Scotch "Inver" have the" same meaning,; that is-where the waters meet, or where a river enters the ssa. Aberdovey is the name of a parish and small town in Wales at the mouth of- the Dovey. Music—We believe the organ in the First • •Church, Dunedin,.is tbe largest organ in New Zealand, but the organ in the Auck- ■ land and Wellington. Town Halls are both larger. - The. order probably is—Auckland Town Hall, .largest; Wellington Town Ball, second largest; ..First' Church, Dunedin, third largtst... The cost.of.the First -Church organ, -including" erection, duty, ~ a,nd cost of alterations to church, amounted . to about £2000,. . '.'■• • Puzzled, Bannockburn.—Mr H. M.' Davey replies: It is no wonder that you are puzzled, and you are very brave in doing and trying W; &o what you can in the matter. J am, siting tbe. editor, to send . .you two. t'iwii is ono of a gaugo box for two heads of water, which I believe is what you want, and the other, being a plan and description of another

way of measuring, with a cardboard "model of the board which is easy to make, and I" hope you will xmderstand it. The length of the board is the width of the race, and supposing the gap- were 20m : long, ; the amount of two heads would pass through the- gap- when the measuring was . about 6£in deep, but of course the gap may be more or less than 20in long, and , if you measure that way and! give me the length of the gap and the depth of water passing over it, I oan tell the . quantity. Write and say how you get. on. P. M. A., Glenham.—Mr H.'.M. Davey, consulting engineer, replies:—Although you have given all the' measurements for every side, you just have omitted the one other thing needful, that is., to either give the bearings of some of the sides, or else the chief angles of same. If you got strips of wood and connected them together as the boundary lines are, yam would see . that the least variation of some "angles would make a great difference in the : area. Two angles appear to be ~90 degrees* but the rest are all guesswork, they may be right or. not. There is another, way that the area could be obtained! from, ' but that would only be possible if your lines were exactly right as to the different lengths and angles, that is if they were accurately traced from a surveyor's map, ■and that would be to give the scale to which the plan is drawn to. To mak© suro I submitted the plan to a surveyor and , merely was confirmed in the above remarks. Kindly, therefore, send some more data

to go on. , • . St. Bathans, 'asks what year ■ tiie.. boys m; South Wales were taken out of the coal mines as working under age?— —ln 1842 a Bill was passed in. the House

of Commons which forbade boys under 10, and women, from working underground. W. 8.., Kelso, writes: I have a cow which is scouring at a fearful rate. Even the water she drinks seems to pass through her in a stream. She calved on September 15, and during the last fortnight to three weeks she has been scouring and wasting away. At present she is like a skeleton, and very weak. We ,h ave had advice, but - all the powders and medicine seem, to have been quite ineffective, and something ■ drastic is needed to check the flow which is in large quantities and more like a watery liquid. manure than anything else. ■ The cow is constantly searching for a drink. I arn restricting this supply, and feeding on boiled milk and eggs. Would you please advise me what to do. Agrioola replies—You have apparently . tried most things. Get the chemist to make up a solution of perchloride- of mercury ■ (corrosive sublimate) 1 in 1000. Give three tablespoonfuls three times a day in a pint of water. This is a very potent drujr, and must be used) with care. There is NO need to eliminate altogther the " milk and eggs, but allow a fair interval etre giving this medicine, which is a wonderful disinfectant, but would be up against' albuminous ingredients in the raw state,, - and must not be mixed with the \ food in order to save trouble. Glad to hear how the cow progresses. I have" dis-

cussed the case with the local veterinarian. "Learner," Mahdeville, asks how to sow linseed .and quantity of seed to sow per \ acre, . etc. ?- Agrioola replies: The quantity of seed to sow, per acre on. fair .average soil will vary from f. to a bushel per- acre with,' say, some superphosphate. It is customary to sow the seed by itself.