Hydroponic Way to Put Down Roots

Sally Lyons of Carlsbad would like to find some hydroponic planters like the ones she bought 10 years ago; they contained clay pebbles and a well in the bottom half to which a plant sent down its roots for nourishment. Can you help with a well-placed source before Lyons wonders if she is all wet?

J. W. McCormick of Fullerton is looking for “invisible suspenders,” which used to be available at fine haberdashers. Can you find a product that suits McCormick without too much waist of time or will this constant belt-tightening force him to become a hold-up man?

Elaine Jubb of Glendale needs to find some rubber or neoprene caps for the feet of her outdoor metal furniture ; the old ones have rotted away, causing rust stains on the patio. Can you cap her efforts with something that has more stain power or will Jubb, like her furniture, have to get her feet wet with purchases of some different product?

Reader-to-Reader Help Line: Joanne Litz at (209) 686-5840 needs dinner and dessert plates in the pink-and-white Early Days pattern made by Vernonware in the 1950s; please see to it that Joanne gets her just deserts. . . . Dorothy at (818) 796-6689, a transplanted Hawaiian who enjoys singing, would like to find one copy (or more) of a book called “Charles King Hawaian Melodies” or something similar ; it’s a paper-bound blue-and-white book that measures about 9x13 inches, she says. Please lei a copy or so on her before she tunes us out. . . . A Texas tourist who saw this column on a recent visit here would like to find the directions on how to play a game called Obsession, manufactured some time ago by Mego; letters to the company have been returned. Please show some Southern hospitality by reaching deep into the heart of Texas and send whatever information you have to Mrs. Judith Ann Devos, c/o Jade, P.O. Box 7026, Victoria, Tex. 77905.

Note: The Reader-to-Reader Help Line is only for one-time items or for products no longer available in stores. And you must give us written permission to publish your telephone number, so that others may contact you directly.

For Sally Johnson of Riverside, who has been looking for Ergophene salve, we may have some help. Bob Emerson says Star Drug, 3296 N. Garey Ave., Pomona, stocks the product. And Donna Ward of Torrance was told that Boil-Ease, made by Commerce Drug Co., Farmingdale, N.Y., was a suitable replacement. Alice Hoover writes that Ergophene is--or was--put out by the Upjohn Co., Kalamazoo, Mich. The rub is that she bought her last tube quite some time ago.

For Norma Griffith of Ojai, who was looking for someone to shorten the sleeves on some sweaters, we have some good news up our sleeves. Pat Babineau of Newport Beach says she has taken a number of sweaters for alteration to the Knitwear Doctor, 1651 Placentia, Suite D, Costa Mesa, Calif. 92677, telephone (714) 650-1025. And Mrs. Rose Chapman, who can be found at 1422 Elkgrove Circle No. 4, Venice, Calif. 90291, telephone (213) 392-3425, says she can do the work, but not until after the beginning of July.

Roberta Tarbox, who was looking for a stocking-run mender, can stop running. Lucy Caillouette of Pasadena sent us one, which we have forwarded to Tarbox. We also heard from an Anaheim reader who has a run mender she wouldn’t mind parting with. The first person who sends us a stamped, self-enclosed envelope will run off with the address.