VIII.] ICE-HOUSES. 145 



Ice : and how is this to be kept away either under 

 ground^ or under the shade of trees '? Abundant ex- 

 perience has proved, that no thickness of wall, that 

 no cement of any kind, will effectually resist moisture. 

 Drops will, at times, be seen hanging on the under 

 side of an arch of any thickness, and made of any 

 materials, if it have earth over it, and even when it 

 has the floor of a house over it ; and wherever the 

 moisture enters, the ice will quickly melt. 



237. Ice-houses should therefore be, in all their 

 parts, as dry as possible : and they should be so con- 

 structed, and the ice so deposited in them, as to en- 

 sure the running away of the meltings as quickly as 

 possible, whenever such meltings come. Any-thing 

 in way of drains or gutters, is too slow in its elfect ; 

 and therefore there must be something that will not 

 surfer the water proceeding from any melting, to re- 

 main an instant. 



238. In the first place, then, the ice-house should 

 stand in a place quite open to the sun and air ; for 

 whoever has travelled, even but a few miles (having 

 eyes in his head) need not be told how long that part 

 of a road from which the sun and wind are excluded 

 by trees, or hedges, or by any-thing else, will remain 

 wet, or at least damp, after the rest of the road is 

 even in a state to send up dust. 



239. The next thing is to protect the ice against 

 wet, or damp, from beneath. It should, therefore, 

 stand on some spot from which water would run in 

 every direction; and if the natural ground presents 

 no such spot, it is no very great job to make it. 



240. Then come the materials of which the house 

 is to consist. These, for the reasons before-mention- 

 ed, must not be bricks, stones, mortar, nor earth ; for 

 these are all affected by the atmosphere ; they will 

 become damp at. certain times, and dampness is the 

 great destroyer of ice. The materials are wood and 

 straw. Wood will not do ; for, though not liable to 

 become damp, it imbibes heat fast enough ; and, be- 

 sides, it cannot be so put together as to shut out air 

 sufficiently. Straw is wholly free from the quality 



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