February 8, 1872. ] 



JOUEXAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAKDEXER. 



123 



or less, but, if the drainage cannot be made very efficient, not sunk 

 atall,ma<le in the form a parallelogram with the ends running 

 north and south, and the entrance at the north end. If an es- 

 cayatiou be made it should be 36 feet long, 22 feet wide, 7 feet 

 deep at the south end, and 5 feet at the north, the sides being 

 1 foot lower than the centre, so that the excavation falls 2 feet 

 from north to south, and 1 foot from centre to sides. If no 

 excavation be made, then mereh' take out the soil to make a 

 firm bottom, giving the inclines above named — i.e., from the 

 north to the south end 2 feet, and from the centre to the sides 

 1 foot. 



Fifi. 1 is the ground plan of such a structure ; a is the ice 

 house within which the ground has been excavated to a firm 

 bottom. The drain b is brought to a small cesspool within the 

 ice house, which must be covered with a stone into which is let 

 a 9-inch ordinary stench-trap. The stone should have a dish 

 from the sides to the trap of -1 inches, and channels cut for drains 

 to deliver water on the trap, so that the water from the melting 

 ice may always pass it before going to the drain b. c. The trap, 

 will require a stone 2 feet square and 8 or 9 inches thick, and 

 should have a dish of 4 inches, and channels made for drains 

 that are to convey the water of the melting ice. The stone to 

 ■cover the cesspool need not be more than 1 foot square and deep 

 in side measurement, and should be surrounded by bricks laid 

 in cement. It should be laid on the cessj^ool in a bed of cement, 

 and when set should rise 3 inches above the level of the excava- 

 tion. The trap being in the centre of the house or midway at 

 one end, itfollow.=i that it would, were we not to lower the ex- 

 cavation, be 1 foot higher than the side drains d, d ; let the 

 excavation, therefore, be made 1.5 inches deeper at that point, 

 and slope to that depth, beginning 6 feet from the trap in 

 the interior and falling to the trap evenl}'. In this case the 

 side di-ains will have 3 inches fall from the sides to the trap. 



Let the floor be formed of bricks, beginning with a brick-ou- 

 •edge all round, and next to this 3-inch drain tiles, which should 

 he laid about 1 inch in the ground, or so that they are level 

 with the bricks on the other side laid on the flat. The whole 

 of the space within the drains should be laid with bricks on 

 the flat, and when this is done a floor should be made sloping 

 from the centre to the sides, and from the interior to the trap, 

 having the bricks level with the drain tiles and trap. Into this 

 wUl fall all water originating within the house, and thence into 

 the main drain b. The side drain will come to the trap by the 

 channels made in the stone. The floor should now be run with 

 cement, remo^•iug the drain tUes and putting a board to keep 

 the bricks in the proper position until the process is complete 

 .and the cement set, then the tUes should be relaid, and those 

 •on the trap should be run in cement and out so as to suit 

 the stone. When this is done no water can escape but to 

 the sides, and thence away by the drains, but as bricks are 

 porous it is well to brush the floor thrice over with cement 

 brought to the consistency of paint. After this is thoroughly 

 set place bricks on the flat, each brick isolated, with 3 inches 

 between each course, and the same between the ends, which will 

 leave spaces of 3 inches between each course, both lengthwise 

 and crosswise. The Ught spaces are the isolated bricks on the 

 flat, and the shaded pai'ts the spaces. These bricks should be 

 laid in cement, and be bevel-pointed round to keep them firm. 

 These bricks will keep the ice off the floor, and will allow the 

 water to run off. 



e, e, e Are 9-inch walls, which should have foundations 

 ielow the floor of the ice house, and a coui'se below asphalted, 

 I .and one above the asphalted course laid in cement. Along the 



spaces/,/", a drain should be laid, and join the drain b where 

 that crosses the spaces. Outside the spaces is h, another drain, 

 that is intended to keep away all water from the enclosed space, 

 and is the only drain, except b, that is to be below the excava- 

 tions. It should have a syjihon just clear of the house to 

 keep back any air that may find its way up b, and keep it from 

 the di'ains in the spaces/',/, which should have syphons at their 

 junction with b. i, i Is an area wliich wOl reqirire a wall, J, J, 

 all round to keep up the soil — 4i inches thick if an excava- 

 tion be made not more than 2 feet, and 9 inches thick if one 

 deeper than 2 feet, k, k, k, k Are 6-inch ii-on pipes that have 

 one end opening in the space / at the bottom, and the other 

 brought to the external air, and should there be provided with 

 a screw valve that is driven on an iudiarubber washer, and so 

 as to exclude air or admit it at will. I, I, 1 Are tongued and 

 grooved doors made of sound well-seasoned oak or elm. They 

 should have o.aken frames, with an iudiarubber band all 

 round, so that there will be httle possibility of air passing. 

 The fastenings of the doors ought to be brass, as iron corrodes 



and gets out of order, m Is a porch having a stone floor or 

 other hard material that wiU do for breaking ice on when 

 filling, and as a storage of any straw or straw shutters that 

 may be required for stopping up the spaces between the doors 

 J, I, I ; m is also provided with a door in halves. With the ex- 

 ception of the outer door of the porch the door should neither 

 be painted nor varnished. 



Fig. 2 is section through A B, and shows h, the ice house, o, 

 9-inch space between the two 9-inch walls. It is provided with 

 a 12-inch iron pipe,p, with two branches, each 6 inches in dia- 

 meter, the ends of which are brought to the external air 

 6 inches clear of all substances, and closed or ojiened at will 

 with air-proof valves. The pipes at the bottom of the space 

 are drain tUes, and those immediately above them are those 

 named in firj. 1, k (they not occurring in the section A B, are 

 introduced to show their utihty). The space o is, of course, 

 filled with air, and therefore at the ijeriod when ice forms the 

 external air will be considerably below freezing-point, whilst 

 that of the space o will be above it. From the structiure being 

 6 feet below the surface, it derives considerable heat from it, 

 and will not be influenced readily by atmospheric changes. In 

 the memorable winter of 1860-61 the temperatiu'e of the earth 

 at 1 foot was never lower than 36", that of the atmosphere 

 falling to 3°. In a space of this kind we shall have a tempe- 

 rature at midwinter of not less than 43° to 4.5° ; and as the ice 

 in n will melt according to the temperature of the au' it is sur- 

 rormded by, and as it must derive its heat i om o, we can by 

 displacing the air in it, bj' opening the valves of p, let out air 

 at 43°, and by those of k replace it with that at, it may be, 

 20°. In any case, at the time of filUng the ice house, n, we 

 should have in o a temperature below freezing, the parts 

 surrouniling being thoroughly frozen by the coldness of the 

 air of 0. Were o earth it would have a temperature of 40° to 

 43°, and the ice in n would be melted by the air heated by the 

 higher-temperatui'ed surrounding material, of which the heat 

 will keep increasing, until in July it will be from 55° to 60°, 

 afterwards gradually declining to the winter minimum of 43° to 

 45°. In our case, o, or the air in it, can also be warmed by 

 the temperature of the surrounding substance : hence arises 

 the necessity of enclosing it with a non-conductor. I propose, 

 therefore, that we fiU (/ , j , with very dry sawdust — kiln-dried, if 

 possible, but not browned very much, and put in hard, it not 

 beuig possible to make it too tight. The sawdust should be 

 isolated from the ground at the bottom of q, making over the 

 drain a half cncle of " culvert " tiles to keep damp from rising 

 and wetting the sawdust. 



Above the ground line it will be seen that our arrangements 

 as regards the exterior are of wood ; in fact, we construct over 

 the ice a summer-house, only we fill the interior with ice, and 

 have seats, r, r, all round outside under cover of the roof; 

 .s', s is Uned with deal battens, 4 inches by 3 inches, and 

 covered with half-inch boards doubled ; first one thickness 

 close, and then the other upon them, so that the last boards 

 will cover the joints of the first. The sides and roof are done 

 ahke, and to give a neat appearance the sides may have fixed 

 on the outside larch poles, sawn iip the midiUo, from which 

 the bark is removed, and when dry varnished. The seats may 

 be formed of like material, also the floor ( over open area u. 

 The supports for the projecting roof are larch poles barked 

 and varnished, the bases of which are sUghtly elevated on 

 stones, and doweUed in. The roof should be thatched with 

 heather, a foot to 18 inches thick, and if this be done neatly 

 we have a structure anything but unomamental, and invaluable 

 for shelter from storm or heat, and as a resting-place. 



But let us retm-n to the interior. The roof of the ice well 

 is of bricks disposed as a semicircle, the ends being also 

 arched to meet the quarter circle of the sides. We do not 

 place earth against the outer wall of the space, o, but sawdust, 

 to bear the weight of the bricks composing the semich-cle, the 

 weight of which tends to cause the upright 9-inch walls to bulge 

 out. One course below the striking of the arches is some strong 

 angle kon, 3 inches on each side of the angle, and half an inch 

 thick, one side of the angle to be placed on the wall, and 

 covered with a row of headers, and the other side close on the 

 face of the course of bricks on which it is laid. At every 3 feet 

 along the angle iron, and on its exposed face, should be made a 

 hole for an inch bolt, whose outer end must have a 2-inch soUd 

 socket, for which a li-inch wrought pipe is prepared to 

 screw on 2 inches. We have in building to put in clamps or 

 straps of 3 inches by half an inch bar iron, with an inch hole 

 3 inches from the upper end, and the lower to pass through 

 the wall at a foot above the foundation, and to turn up 3 inches 



