NOTES AND QUERIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3513, 12 July 1921, Page 35

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Q««c tion« for reply in oemlnj U>k* to b* rw #eir*4 not later than SATURDAY night. Questions will NOT b. replied to through the post. Young Miner. —The piece of rock you sent for identification was submitted to Professor Park, who has reported that it is a qu&rtzose chlorite-schist speckled with irregular crystals of magnetite, the black protoperoxide of iron. .This last is the ore from which the best quality of iron is produced, but it has no commercial value except it occurs in huge masses r.nd in a place where tho transport charges -would be light. It may be mentioned that chlorite-schist is common in Central Otago. Dunedin.—(l) No; 25 years’ residence is required. .(2 and 3) The amount elated -would not have deprived them, but would cause a reduction in the pension had the} been able to claim 'one. Fruit Trees, Quarantine Island. — The best thing to do in the circumstances is to cut out the trees and grow some good commercial sorts. Broccoli, Invercargill, asks how to treat a broccoli plant for seed which at present is doing well, etc. Leave plant to flower and seed, etc., where it is, but guard it at flowering time from chance cross-pol-lination by bees—by covering with some muslin. Enquirer, Green Valley, asks what to do with mare in poor condition which at times evidences a “depraved appetite, etc. Apparently there is a want of some substance in the feed necessary for proper nutrition —a shortage, perhaps, of phosphates and lime. Suggest a radical change in the feeding and variety. Farmer asks: ’Would partridge peas grown with oata and cut green make a good winter food for dairy cows? ——Oats grown in conjunction with peas provides an admirable food for dairy stock. It is essential, however, that a strong growing variety of oats be used, in order to support the peas, as well as having a good quantity of flag and strong upright straw. It is fed when oats in milk stage. Dairyman asks : (1) In the cheese-making industry is it desirable that milk used for starter should bo separated? (2) In tho event of such separation would the placing of the cream in the cheese vats cause a loss to the factory, presuming that such factory used a whey separator plant? (1) Yes, and it is the rule generally among factories to separate the milk before making it into a starter. (2) No, as the cream from the “starter” niilk as a rule is mixed with the cream secured from the whey, and goes to make a better whey butter. Euchre asks the method of procedure for a progressive euchre tournament. The tables should be numbered consecutively, No. 1 being the “top table.” There should be an equal numl>er of players of either sex; draw for tables and partners, each receiving a numbered card, two of the cards for each table being marked “A” .and two marked “B.” The lady and gentleman drawing, for instance, “4A” proceed to No. 4 table and begin as partners, those drawing “413” doing the same. It is usual to have the ladies’ and gentlemen’s cards decorated with bows of different-colon red ribbons —the gentlemen red and the ladle® blue —to avoid confusion. The top table plays the ordinary game of 5 or 8 points, and all the other tables score as much as they can, each pair of partners trying to be ahead of tboir adversaries when, the first table having finished, a bell is rung, and play stops instantly, even in the middle of a deal. The winners at each tabic receive each a little badge or coloured wafer to stick on their cards, and the losers at the top table go down to the bottom one, -while the winners at the other tables move one up, and change partners. Play must not begin till the bell from tho top table gives the signal for starting. At the end of the evening the lady and gentleman with the greatest number of badges are the winners, and receive prizes, and there may be booby prize.s for those with the fewest badges.

Wee M'Gregor asks for recipes for butterscotch and home-made toffee. *(1) Butterscotch : Take lib lump sugar and half a pint of milk; stir them together in a. saucepan over the fire until the sugar is thoroughly melted. Then add half a pound of butter, dropping in little bits at a time, and a pinch of cream cf tartar. Mix well, and bo-il the butter scotch until a piece will set .into a fairly hard ball cn being dropped into cold water. Pour on abu tiered tin and cut into squares when sufficiently set. Nut Toffee: 4oz shelled ha-zc 1-nu Is, £lb golden syrup, a dessertspoonful of water, lib sugar, 4oz buttei, and a pinch of salt. Put all the ingredients except the nuts into a saucepan and boil steadily, with occasional stirring, until they turn a nice golden colour. Test by dropping* a little into a basin of water. If the mixture becomes crisp and brittle it is sufficiently cooked. Grease a tin with butter, pour the toffee in. and sprinkle it at once with the nuts, or the nuts ooulcl be added just before pouring out. When set and cold break into suitable sized, pieces. (2) Take jib coarse sugar.-, 2oz butter, 1 tableapoonful vinegar, a piece ol lemon peel. Boil together for half an hour. Butter a dish and pour on thinly. Devonshire Toffeo: Mix granulated sugar with cream just beginning to turn until it assumes the consistency of a very thick batter. Pour into a lined saucepan and keep on stirring until it is smooth, white, and thoroughly cooked. Then add a spoonful of jam, raspberry . preferably, give it another stir up, pour into a buttered tin, and cut into squares before it has set hard. Everton Toffee: Take lib butter, £lb treacle, and lib sugar. Put two tablespoonfuls of water first in the pan, add the above, and boil for three-quarters of an hour. Russian toffee is richer than ordinary toffee. Take half a pint of thick sour cream, or, if this is unprocurable, a tin of condensed milk, and stir into it lib sugar. Boil slowly over a clear fire till it is all dissolved and begins to thicken. Then add two teaspoonfuls of vanilla essence and one tablespoonful of whisky (this latter can be dispensed with if preferred). Boil it up again until it froths and leaves the sides cf the pan clear, then turn on to a buttered dish and cut into squares. Chopped walnuts may be added if wished. Central Otago. —Mr H. M. Davcy, consulting engineer, 64 Frederick street, replies: (1) If you must connect the pumps as they are shown—that is, in a straight line, and if they are of a capacity that one takes from the otlie", without any “drag” on either pump, probably one belt would be simpler and better. But I do net like your great mass of bends. Why cannot you feed straight into the first pump without the two bends shown? Then why cannot you piece the second pump at such >a height that one bend would do instead cf the three shown? Unless the bends are of a very ample size the doing away with four of them would be, I think, quite worth while. But then you would drive as shown with separate belts, and one advantage of this would be that you could “lag” one of the pulleys of one pump to make it run either faster or slower as was found to give better results. (2) Water is incompressible, 1 believe, for the extremely little it can apparently be compressed seems to be the small amor air generally in it that U compressed and not the water itself. Of course 1 care to answer it, and if I did not know I would find someone who did, but I was brought up in hydraulic work where as much as 500 tons was applied to coal and pitch to make preserved coal, though 300 were generally used lor the purpose. (3) Two and a-quarter inches and 2in bare, respectively. (4) An inch square (or a square inch) is the base of calculations of this sort. Circles are roughly, say, about three-quarters of the area of equal sized squares, or by decimals .7854 is the usual calculation. If, however, your question meant something else, write again. A. B. C. t Fairlie.—Mr H. M. Davey replies: In this question I consulted Mr L. O. Beal, who kindly replied that the area of the ground is 0 acres 2 roods 38.4 poles if the angles are as you sketched them. LAW QUERIES. fAn.werea hr a solicitor ol ti;« sapr«n« Court »! Kew Zeeland. Letters and Teiegrame must b© addreeeed to ‘XEI," c/o Editor, Otago Wituoaa. Duoodia.j Debtor asks: I call a meeting of my creditors, and about two-thirds of them attended the meeting. At that meeting I agreed to assign my estate for the benefit of my creditors. What is the position in regard to creditors who did not fail in with this arrangement? Answer. —‘They are not bound by the assignment and may sue independently for the amount owing to them. Economist asks: (i) When is a “strike” legal? (2) When is a “strike” illegal? Answers.—An unlawful strike is a strike of any workers who are bound at the commencement cf the strike by an award or industrial agreement affecting the industry in which the strike arises. Strikes in ceitain specified industries such as the manufacture or supply of coal gas are also illegal. Grass Seed. —If A has purchased the property from B he lias no further claim by reason of the second mortgage. T. W.—The Native Land Court must consent to any alienation of Native land. Reader.—Under the Police Offences Act any person is liable to a fine who lays poison on any public place or any place adjacent thereto or on or within three chains of any highway outside of any borough or town, district. The poison must be buried in any land not less than two feet from the surface of the land. Ajax asks: (1) Can an owner of property shoot a dog wandering on his property but not damaging stock? " (2) Can an employee of this owner shoot a dog wandering on his employer’s property but not damaging stock? (3) Can an employee shoot, a 'dog on an adjacent property whether it damaged his employer’s stock or not? Answers.—(l) Yes, if the dog was running at large amongst sheep or cattle. (2) Yes, if the dog was running at large amongst sheep or cattle. (3) No.