

THE 



JOURNAL OF RURAL AIT AND RURAL TASTE. 



Vol. I. 



DECEMBER, 1846. 



No. 6. 



The Ice House and the Hot House, types 

 of Lapland and the Tropics, are two con- 

 trivances which civilization has invented for 

 the comfort or luxury of man. A native of 

 the Sandwich islands, who lives, as he con- 

 ceives, in the most delicious climate in the 

 world, and sleeps avva}^ the best part of his 

 life in that happy state which the pleasure- 

 loving Italians call " dolcefar niente," (sweet 

 do nothing) — smiles and shudders when he 

 hears of a region where his familiar trees 

 mus\ be kept in glass houses, and the water 

 turns, now and then, into solid cold crystal ! 

 Yet, if happiness, as some philosophers 

 have affirmed, consists in a variety of sen- 

 sations, we denizens of temperate latitudes 

 have greatly the advantage of him. What 

 surprise and pleasure awaits the Sandwich 

 islander, for example, like that we experience 

 on entering a spacious hot-house, redolent 

 of blossoms and of perfwme, in mid-winter, 

 or on refreshing our exhausted frames with 

 one of " Thomson and Weller's " vanilla 

 creams, or that agreeable compound of the 

 vintage of Xeres, pounded ice, etc., that 

 bears the humble name of " sherry cobbler;'' 

 but which having been introduced lately from 

 this country into London, along with our 

 " American ice," has sent into positive ex- 

 32 



tacies all those of the great metropolis, who 

 depend upon their throats for sensations. 



Our business at the present moment is 

 with the Ice-house, — as a necessary and 

 most useful appendage to a country resi- 

 dence. Abroad, both the ice-house and the 

 hot-house are portions of the wealthy man's 

 establishment solely. But in this country, 

 the ice-house forms part of the comforts of 

 every substantial farmer. It is not for the 

 sake of ice-creams and cooling liquors, that 

 it has its great value in his eyes, but as a 

 means of preserving and keeping in the 

 finest condition, during the summer, his 

 meat, his butter, his delicate fruit, and in 

 short his whole perishable stock of provi- 

 sions. Half a dozen correspondents, lately, 

 have asked us for some advice on the con- 

 struction of an ice-house, and we now cheer- 

 fully offer all the information in our posses- 

 sion. 



To build an ice-house in sandy or gravel- 

 ly soils, is one of the easiest things in the 

 world. The drainage there is perfect, the 

 dry and porous soil is of itself a sufficiently 

 good non-conductor. All that it is necessary 

 to do, is lo dig a pit, twelve feet square, and 

 as many deep, line it with logs or joists 

 faced with boards, cover it with a sim- 



