516 



J0X7BNAL OF HORTIOULTUBE AND OOTTAQB GARDENEE. 



[ Seoember 10, 1874. 



11 feet 4 inches at 3 feet from gronnd. The third 11 feet 

 10 inches at 3 feet; and the fourth, blown down, measures 

 18 feet at 3 feet from the soil, and 10 feet 10 inches at 11 feet. 

 They all have the appearance of being perfectly sound. There 

 is also close to them a common Ash with enormous spreading 

 head ; its trunk measures at 4 feet from the ground 13 feet in 

 girth. — H. Vine, Gardener. 



ICE HOUSES AND ICE HEAPS. 



[" D " and other correspondents having made inquiries on 

 these subjects, we reprint the following from a communication 

 received from the late Mr. Robert Fish.] 



Fig. 144 is a section of the egg-shaped well as commonly 

 built, with a trap drain from its bottom, and the bottom 

 covered over with logs of wood and rough brushwood for a 

 depth of a foot or 18 inches. It is furnished with a passage 

 and a door outside and inside, so that the space between them 

 may be filled with straw. As will presently be seen, we prefer 



a double wall instead of a single one, with an open space 

 between of from 9 to 12 inches. The opening shown at the 

 top is of great importance for filling the well, where the posi- 

 tion of the ground will admit of it. If a layer of clay can be 

 rammed against the outer wall it will be an improvement. 

 The ground around the well should be shaded with trees and 

 evergreens. 



Fig. 14.5 is a section of one of the simplest and best] ice 

 bouses I have met with. As far as I recollect, it was built 

 square, with stone walls l(j inches thick, enclosing a square 

 of 16 feet by 18 feet deep. One side abutted on the level of a 

 field, and the opposite one on a deep sloping bank, the base 

 of which was below the bottom of the ice well. The ground 

 being light the drain was of little use, as the moisture escaped 

 at the bottom. The ice was carted along the level meadow to 

 a platform at the doorway. There were two doors ; the out- 

 side one was of stout deal, on hinges which enabled it to fold 

 back on the roof. The corner one fitted loosely in a groove, 

 and this door was lined with woollen cloth. Though these 



-^- 



SOUTH 



SIDE 



Fig. 144. 



a. Doable doors. 



Fig. 145. 

 b. Steep hulk. 



c. Surface line. 



doors were on the south side of the roof, the ice never failed. 

 The roof was formed of 12 inches of thatch, and then fully 

 a foot of close heath or ling. The ice was pretty well beaten 

 outside, pitched in at the doorway, and then pounded down 

 inside. Nothing as a house could be more simple, or keep ice 

 better; and, the ice being taken from clean water, venison, 

 game, il-c, were kept in the house for long periods untainted. 



Where dryness may be secured there need be no objection 

 to sinking the well wholly below the ground. In soUs reten- 

 tive of moisture care should be taken to prevent the outside 

 moisture penetrating through the waUs, by building them in 

 cement, ramming clay round the wall, with tar next the wall, 

 or raising them partly, or nearly wholly, out of the ground. 

 It is quite a mistake to suppose that to keep ice well you have 

 merely to get it into a hole beneath the surface of the ground. 

 On an average the earth will be warmer all the year round at 

 the depth of the bottom of the well than at the surface. All 

 moisture getting to the wall would melt the ice ; the moisture 

 that would ooze out from a wall above the ground would 

 actually cool the interior by evaporation. 



I have not had any ice houses entirely above ground under my 

 own charge ; but I have noticed how well the ice kept in several, 

 though, as far as I recollect, half as large again as the size 

 mentioned above. I remember one house above ground that 

 was built with double brick walls, the walls being separated 

 12 inches from each other, with a door in each wall opposite 

 each other, about 5 feet from the ground level. The top of 



the house, steep and cone-shaped, was thatched to the thick- 

 ness of 18 inches, and extended beyond the walls for a couple 

 of feet. The outside thatch got covered with mosses and 

 lichens, and there was a dense shade of trees over all. A 

 temporary staircase led up to the doorway, and a stone 

 staircase inside led to the bottom of the house. The ice 

 was pitched in from the carts, and broken inside, and it 

 kept remarkably well. The great secrets in this case were 

 the double walls and the enclosed space for air between them. 

 Of aU non-conductors of heat, enclosed isolated air is the best. 

 Neither what we call heat nor what we call cold has the 

 power, to any great degree, to pass through it. I recollect 

 once noticing in the end of June the thermometer in the shade 

 against the outer wall of such a house indicating 77", and 

 another thermometer on the wall inside the ice well ranging 

 from 32" to 34°, but we shut the doors behind us. 



In sunk weUs this double wall is just of equal importance. 

 The outer one prevents the heat of the soil affecting the ice. 

 I met with a nice example of this some time ago. An old- 

 fashioned ice well had been so buUt, and answered remarkably 

 well. In course of time three or four ice tubs had to be supplied 

 at the mansion instead of one — everything in summer had to 

 be cooled with ice — and the supply, from the house being 

 opened so often, was not equal to the demand. The supposed 

 genius of the estabhshment counselled the removal of the inner 

 wall, which would at once make the house about 3 feet wider 

 from top to bottom, and set at liberty bo many thousand briokfl 



