THE ICE TRADE. 447 



not done, and the cold continues, there "will be little or no increase of thickness 

 of ice. One firm lately expended $8,000 in cleaning the ice for cutting. Ice 

 being of sufficient thickness, and the snow and snow ice removed, first a 

 straight line is made with a hand groove with a straight-edged board for a ruler ; 

 then the swiug-guide-marker is used, making parallel grooves twenty-two 

 inches apart. When the ice is thick enough to cut, it is marked by parallel 

 lines twenty-two inches apart, crossing the former marking at right angles. 

 Then in every second line each way the six and eight-inch cutters are di'awu, 

 cutting two-thirds through the ice ; also the ten and twelve-inch cutters are 

 employed when necessary. Then the lines where they intersect are calked 

 with the cfilking-bar, where the ice is to be cut off, to prevent the water from 

 running through the seams and freezing. Strips are sawn from twenty-five 

 to fifty feet in length, two, foui-, or six deep lines in width, as convenient for 

 floating, when the strips or sections, thus separated, are floated near the ele- 

 vator, where they are split with pond-bars ; each cake of ice, usually 44 inches 

 square, is then passed on to the elevator or inclined plane with endless chain, 

 over which it is passed under a plane, reducing it to a gauged thickness, leav- 

 ing two projections or ribs on the top above the surface in order to prevent ttx) 

 close contact in packing — a consideration which greatly facilitates discharging 

 ice for removal. It then passes under brooms which sweep away all loose 

 particles from the surface of the ice, thus leaving it in the best possible condi- 

 tion for packing use. When the ice-house or vault is filled, the ice is covered 

 with shavings or swamp hay. When taken out, every block is hand-grooved 

 and split into four lesser blocks of twenty inches square for transportation, 

 whether by ships, cars, or wagons. Some pack their ice in blocks twenty-two 

 inches square, instead of forty-four inches square, deeming the former better 

 economy. The modes of cutting, storing, and discharging ice vary somewhat 

 and probably ever will. A block of ice twenty-two inches square and ten 

 inches thick weighs 150 pounds, as stated by an ice dealer. Steam power is 

 employed by some of the ice-cutters in lifting the ice from the ponds and put- 

 ting it into the ice-houses. 



Ice-houses are now built above ground and on the borders of ponds where 

 ice is cut. There are about thirty-five ice-houses or vaults around Fresh pond, 

 in Cambridge. They are ordinarily built contiguous to the pond where tire 

 ice is cut and stored, sometimes of bricks, but more commonly of wood. When 

 of wood, the walls are double, formed by two ranges of boarding, the space 

 between the boardings outside and inside being filled with refuse tan wet from 

 the yard. In tropical climes ice-houses are built with two spaces to be thus 

 filled with tan or other suitable material. One ice-house was built at Fresh 

 pond covering 36,000 feet, with vaults 40 feet in depth, with brick walls four 

 feet thick, including two sets of air spaces. What has now been stated in re- 

 gard to building these ice-houses is sufficient to suggest to farmers and others, 

 who may desu'e to build for private purposes, the best way of constructing 

 them. For this vicinity but one air space or filling is deemed necessary. 



In New Orleans, before the rebellion, substantial brick ice-houses had been 

 erected at a cost of $200,000. Similar outlays had been made in Mobile, 

 Charleston, and other southern cities. 



The consumption of ice in Boston and vicinity in 1857, as set down by 

 Addison, Gage & Co., was about 70,000 tons ; in 1858, 74,000 tons ; m 1S59, 

 7£^,000 tons; in 1860, 85,000 tons; in 1861, 92,000 tons; in 1862, 105,00t) 

 tons ; and in 1863, 97,000 tons. The ice crop of the winter of 1862-'G3, w^s 

 very light, most of the ice used having been cut in March, 1863. 



The freights for ice shipped coastwise in 1857 was $2 a ton ; in 1S5'S, 

 81 75 ; in 1859, $2 ; in 1860. S3 ; in 1861, S3 50 ; in 1862, SI • and in 

 1863, S2 50. 



