NOTES AND QUERIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3594, 30 January 1923, Page 39

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Questions lor reply in coming issue to be tm eeived not later than SATURDAY night. Question, will NOT be replied to through the pci. “J. S. W.”—A reply to ycur query appeared in the issue of January 9 under the pen name you give “A 48 Years Reader.” It was suggested that probably your best course would be to arrange with Ccoks’ Agency for the tour as you would he saved a great deal of trouble about the question of exchange rates. “Constant Reader” asks the best table fowl to keep.—One that would fatten easily and stand being shut up.—The best table fowl —one that would fatten easily— be a cross between a game and Dorking. Next best, and I tear the only thing available, is one of the medium weight or dual purpose birds —i.e., Plymouth Rock, Wyandotte, or Orpington. The last-mentioned should be a bird of fancier’s strain and not utility strain. Langsham’s, if obtainable, are grand table birds. I have seen a cockerel trussed and ready' for the table weighing 9lb. The Langshan: is, I think, the only heavy-breed bird to be seen here now-a- clays. “Pukerangi” asks how to make (1) hop beer, and (2) horehound beer.- (1) Hop beer — To 10 gallons of rain water add Jib hops and Jib bruised (not ground) ginger; let it come to the boil, stirring occasionally. Note the time it commences to boil, and .when 20 minutes have elapsed adtd 9lb light brown sugar. Stir till dissolved, and take up without boiling again. It is in the long boiling of hops that all their delicate aroma escapes, while the bitterness is brought out; boiling the sugar causes muddiness. Strain into an open wooden vessel and leave until milk warm; then add a quart of yeast and cover with a thick woollen cloth and let it work for 24* hours. In the meantime loz tartaric acid and loz brewers’ isinglass should be soaked in a quart of cold water and at the end of 24 hours shold be added to the. beer to clear it. It will be ready to bottle next day, and. should stand for a week. Wash the bottles the day before, and leave upside down to drain, as they must be perfectly dry before being used. Soak the cerks in some of the hop beer with a weight on them until rcq'urred. If brewers’ isinglass cannot be procured, save up eggshells and take the white and shells of two fresh eggs, beat up together, and add with the acid. Tie down the corks and store away in a cool place. (2) Horebound beer is made with sugar and horehound, the latter taking the place of hops. The horehound should be previously dried. Add Jib horehound, lib coarse brown sugar, and goz of ginger to each gallon of water, boil for one hour, strain and cool until lukewarm. Add two tablespoonfuls of yeast and let it stand for 24 hours. Bottle for use. “J- H. A.” asks for a good lasting whitewasli—one that will not rub off easily.— Some authorities object to the U3e of lime for the inside of poultry houses. The lime dust is stirred up by the fowls and is irritating to their nasal passages. The action of the lime on' poultry manure is to set free the ammonia, and so lose the most valuable manurial ingredient. Common black coal tar disinfectant is considered better in every way. The following is an approved recipe. Slake 20lb of lime, and make it the consistency of thin cream. Add 31b common salt, Jib alum. To increase the disinfecting properties add halfpint carbolic acid to each pailful. “Subscriber” asks for a recipo for a light fruit cake, with sultanas and peel.—The following is a recipe for a sultana cake which may suit your purpose. Threequarters of a pound of flour, 6oz sugar, Jib butter, 6oz sultanas, one egg, two teaspoonfuls of baking powder, one and a-half ounces of citron. Beat the butter and sugar to a cream, add the egg well beaten, mix in the other ingredients, and add to the mixture, if necessary, a little warm milk. Bake one and a-lialf hours. “Enquirer,” Mataura. —The conditions imposed by the society would debar showing specimens grown in house described. Your glasshouse permits of a temperature and conditions which are not such as plants “outside” experience. The house is in a sense both a hot and a green house.

"C. W.” asks for recipes for (1) lioneymead, (2) cicfer. ——(I) Boil 141 b of honey in six gallons of water for half an hour, breaking into it four eggs. Add some small bunches of marigoram, balm, and sweet briar, Joz each of cinnamon, cloves, mace, and bruised ginger, and boil it for quarter of an hour longer. Pour it out to coot. Toast a large slice of brown bread, spread it over with fresh yeast, and put it into the liquor. Lot it ferment for one day, then put it into a cask, which keep open till fermentation ceases, then bung close. It may be bottled in a month, but the corks must be well wired. (2) The following recipe is slightly differenct: —Mix well the whites of six eggs in 12 gallons of water, and to this mixture, when it lias boiled for half an hour and been thoroughly skimmed, add 361 b of finest honey, with the rinds of two dozen lemons. Let them boil together for some little time, and when the liquor sufficiently cools work it with a little ale yeast. Put it, with the lemon peel, into a seasoned barrel, which must be filled up as it flows over with some of the reserved liquor. "When the hissing noise made by the liquor ceases, drive the bung close. When it has stood six months bottle it. (2) After gathering allow the fruit to lie for a day or two to mellow, and then discard any which appear unsound, as a very small proportion of these will spoil the flavour. Crush the fruit tc a pulp and place this in a tub for 24 hours, adding a little water if the juice is not plentiful. Fermentation will begin almost at once, and will assist in breaking up the fruit, which should be done thoroughly'. Strain the juice out of the pulp through coarse canvas. From this the best cider is made, an inferior but palatable kind being made from the liquor which can be pressed out of the pulp left behind. Put the juice in either case into casks, with large bungholes, standing in or over tubs in which the juice which froths over may be caught. Keep the casks constantly full so that the’ excess -of yeast may be removed by frothing over. The fermentation is allowed to continue from three to 10 day's, according to the strength required and the liquor is then racked off the sediment into clean casks and stored in a cool and equable temperature until the following spring, when it may be re-racked and is ready for use. The quality of the cider depends on the sugar originally in the fruit and the care in fermentation, especially as regards temperature, which should be about 50 degrees Fahr. If the temperature is higher, acetic acid is formed making the cider rough and hard. Bottling requires great care. Only clear samples are fit for it and they' should be at least 12 months old, and free, from hardness or acidity. Good mellow or slightly sweet cider, bottled before fermentation is complete constitutes what is called champagne cider. “Storeman” writes as follows: —In the event of national prohibition being carried on December 7, 1922, could liquor be brought into New Zealand. If so, what are the conditions? (1) Do all portable steam boilers used for generating steam require a ticket for one horsepower up? (1) No, prohibition would have been absolute, save for what would have authorised for manufacturing purposes and in connection with church usage. (2) It is necessary that the boiler should be “passed” and the owner hold certificate to that effect no matter what the horsepower. “Butter-fat,” Milton, says his cows have some small, knotty, dry scabs on the udder, and round the top of the teat. In some cases the teats get very hot and swollen, in others the teats shrink. In some cases a quarter got hard and swollen and. matter came through the teats and the animals appeared sickly for a few days and gave no milk. When they get over this a quarter remains hard and matter comes from the teat. What do you advise? Symptoms are not so dissimilar to those present in cow-pox trouble, and yet there may he mammites also. Suggest treatment anyway for former disease, which usually runs its course. It is infective from hands, etc., and free use of disinfectants should be encouraged and affected cows treated last. Takes about three weeks for crusts to separate. Dress with zinc ointment which can be procured at any chemists. “Mataura,” Southland asks: (a) What would be the value of a Bank of New Zealand £lO note in London, and would one experience much trouble in getting same changed for Bank of England notes? (b Will any of the banks in this country give out gold for notes yet? (a) Less two per cent. If you forward the money through the bank by draft, it is possible that the receiver would pocket the full amount less stampage. A New Zealand hank note would be cashed at the bank’s branch, London, less the exchange mentioned. (b) No. “Engineer,” Kaitangata.—Mr H. M. Davey, consulting engineer, replies:—Seeing that your pumping conditions are so good, that is that apparently the combined suction and forcing is only lift, the difference would result as follows: —The present position of the pump is the better of the two, that is certain. Now, if all valves and the moving parts of the pump were in perfect order, the difference between the two places, would be either nothing, or negligible. But when these parts wear, then the difference would begin and would increase, especially if the suction portion were faulty. Had you to pump far higher, then the present position would be far better as it is. Even if for other reasons, ycu moved the pump to the proposed position, you ought to have a foot-valve at or very near the water level, probably you have not got one now', and you may not need it, but then it would be better to have one, and even that is an extra item to keep moving. I seem to understand that you would like more water, is that so? If it is, w'here you ore weak is in having too small pipes, especially for the suction. Of course you can force the water through them, but you have friction to contend with. You would get more water if all the pipes were enlarged, but especially the suction, except, of course, that the pump were too small to allow the water to pass, which may be unlikely., It is one tiling to pass water say throupli small spaces, say in the. pump, hut quite another if the small pipes are added, causing friction all along the line. Write again saying if this could be done. It is not clear as to what information you seem to ask for in saying 2000 gallons against, 12ft and the same quantity as against 2ft, seeing that you do not appear to have that quantity and the water in both positions of the pump, the present and the proposed position would be the same, and the lift is not 12ft but at least 14ft.