14 



The Canadian Horticulturist. 



need use, it is advised for country cold storage warehouses, etc., especially when 

 a little ice has to go a good way. Filling for the dead-air space in ice-house 

 walls is not needed, the air space being the best non conductor of heat, or 

 insulator, is the view held by some, but prac- 

 tical icemen of longest and largest experience 

 insist on filling, even if the space is air-tight. 

 Perfectly dry sawdust is usually preferred for 

 filling, but it must be dry, as moisture rend- 

 ers it a good conductor, and the moist sur- 

 face will readily convey the heat to the ice. 

 Fine planer shavings, that do not pack quite 

 as closely as sawdust, are also used, and spent 

 tan bark where it can be had dry for the haul- 

 ing; fine chaff is betterthan nothing. Pounded 

 charcoal is best of all when it can be had 

 cheap enough, "and as it is antiseptic it does 

 not decay the wood, with which it comes in 

 contact, as does sawdust. Indeed, charcoal 

 is perhaps the only thing that could reason- ^^^- 887.~RErRi«ERATOR House. 

 ably answer for a single partition of but six ^^^^t^^^S^^^^^^^ ^^^ 

 or eight inches thickness." For cold Stor- ditto, outer air space. Intervening black 

 age, place the ice room above the storage spacefilled with shavings, hay or sawdust. 

 room, with apertures for the cold air to pass down through. This melt from 

 the ice mayl^e utilized for washing butter, cooling milk, or other purposes for 

 which ice water is needed. All these purposes can be subserved in one building 

 by a httle planning. — Amer, Agriculturist. 



Unloading" Barrels from Wagons.— Farmers frequently have cider, 

 vinegar, molasses, and other bulky matter in hogsheads and barrels which have 



to be removed from a wagon. 

 The 



-\s 



—ij- 



^5^ 



skids 



Fig, 888. — Skids for Sliding Loads from Wagons. 



m so common 

 use by storekeepers are in. 

 valuable where much heavy 

 trucking occurs. For con- 

 struction take two pieces of ash or other strong wood 2x3 inches and seven to 

 nine feet long. With iron bolts fasten about one foot apart. The iron bolt 

 should be from one-half to one inch in diameter and bent crescent from between 

 the side pieces of wood. Plane one end of each stick to an acute angle runninc 

 back about 10 inches. Put a piece of plate iron on each stick, fasten with bolts 

 tightly clinched, and turn the end over so as to catch on the platform of the 

 wagon. The ends resting on the ground should likewise be planed and covered 

 with iron bands. For removing casks, stand the barrel on end and tip over the 

 skids, and it will slide down to the ground with but little effort on the part of 

 the driver. — A. C. Lake, American Agriculturist. 



