1288 The Cornell Reading-Courses 



substances that ripen and mature them. Such a temperature does, how- 

 ever, retard or check all life processes, and therefore its use is a highly 

 efficient method of keeping foods during limited periods of time. 



Simple household methods of keeping foods cold have long been in use. 

 The cold cellar, the pit, the cave or wellhole, a stream of running water 

 or a water bath, wet leaves and cloths, the cold box or refrigerator kept 

 cold in winter with cold air and in summer by a circulation of cold water 

 or by the use of ice, a stream of cool, clean water diverted to run through 

 the cold box and thus keep the daily supplies of butter, eggs, meat, and 

 the like, wholesome and cool, is indeed a blessing to the country home. 

 In the city or large town the refrigerator problem is solved commercially, 

 all having an opportunity to hail the iceman and get a daily ice supply. 

 The problem of the smaller town or the rural community is more individual 

 and its successful solution often lies in the owning and operating of an 

 ice house by each individual or by a small group of individuals. The 

 question of the effect on the family welfare of having some good method 

 of preserving the daily supply of perishable food is of sufficient impor- 

 tance to warrant a careful study of the best means of procuring ice for 

 home purposes and storing it on the farm. 



To make a refrigerator. — An excellent little pamphlet — " Ice Houses," 

 by L. C. Corbett, Farmers' Bulletin 475, United States Departm.ent of 

 Agriculture, Washington, D. C. — describes methods of harvesting ice and 

 of securing refrigeration on the farm. The following quotation is made 

 from that bulletin: 



" The construction of a farm refrigerator large enough to meet the 

 requirements of a well-equipped farm for the storage of eggs, butter, and 

 fresh meat and for chilling or precooling fruits in small quantities is shown 

 in Fig. 88. This refrigerator can be constructed in a cellar, in the lean-to 

 of an ice house, or in any other farm building where convenient and suit- 

 able protection can be provided. If none of these alternatives is possible, 

 the refrigerator may be constructed as an independent building. If built 

 as a separate structure, the same care in the choice of a site should be 

 exercised as in choosing the location of an ice house. The construction 

 is shown in detail in Fig. 88. The essential feature is a well-insulated 

 room containing an ice rack, drip pan, and drain. This refrigerator is 8 

 by I o feet and has a floor space 6 by 8 feet available for the storage of produce. 



" Such an arrangement will require about 100 tons of ice during the 

 year, but it can be used to hold eggs and butter over the season of abundant 

 production. A supply of fresh meat can be kept by such means in 

 localities where distributing wagons are not run, and even where a local 

 supply is available the producer can arrange to supply his table at whole- 

 sale rather than retail prices by kiUing his own sheep, pigs, or veal. In- 



