1887 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



187 



This plow will cut in about five or six 

 inches; and even if the ice is a foot thick, or 

 mt)re, the ice-cliisels already described cut 

 it without trouble. After the horses have 

 finished their work, the ends of these long 

 strips are cut loose with an ice-saw. Then 

 a man witli an ice-chisel like the one below 

 goes along the gi'oove where he wishes the 

 large cake to separate, and strikes repeated 

 blows, say at intervals of ten feet. 



ICE-CHISEL. 



After he has struck one or more times, he 

 can tell by the sound that the ice has split. 

 A click is heard when the crack starts. If 

 you have ever heard a pitcher break because 

 the water inside was freezing, you will know 

 what it sounds like. Finally, before you 

 know it, the great cake moves olf into the 

 water, and he has no further concern with 

 it. The men with the poles start it on its 

 march. In loading the ice on to wagons, 

 tongs are sometimes used, like those figured 

 below ; but the regular ice-men hardly ever 

 take the trouble to l)other with tongs. 



ICE-TONGS. 



Occasionally saws are used for a special 

 purpose, like the one following. 



AN ICE-SAW. 



Every thing seemed to be going on so 

 pleasantly I was wondering if the ice-busi- 

 ness was not an exception to many of the 

 great industries that spring up and cause 

 trouble by strikes and differences between 

 labor and capital. Pretty soon, however, I 

 had reason to feel that Satan makes his way 

 out on the frozen river, as well as into fac- 

 tories, mills, and warehouses. One of the 

 men was so much intoxicated that it seemed 

 every moment as if he would go into the 

 water, and 1 was told that a great many go 

 under the ice and are drowned. If whisky 

 gets among such a crowd, is it any wonder V 

 and is it any wonder that strikes and riots 

 should come in too y So many ice-houses 

 have been bui'ued by mobs and rival iutei' 



ests, I was told that it is a hard matter to 

 get them insured. Between Albany and 

 New York the river is literally alive with 

 ice-companies, and great edifices, or mon- 

 strous buildings, loom up to hold the ice- 

 crop. A young friend whom I met later has 

 furnished me some important facts in regard 

 to the matter, and I will here let him supple- 

 ment, in his own words, what I have already 

 told you. 



HARVESTING ICE ON THE HUDSON. 



One ol the greatest industries that has grown up 

 in the Hudson Valley in the last ten years is that 

 of harvesting- the crop raised chiefly by the aid of 

 Jack Frost; viz., the ice-crop. Immense houses, 

 all above ground, are built all along the river, and 

 quite close to it. These buildings are usually 

 about 40 ft. in height, with a mansard of 10 ft. ad- 

 ditional, which is used as a loft for storing salt- 

 marsh hay, used for covering ice at top. Each 

 house contains from four to sixteen rooms, each 

 .50 X 100 ft. on the ground. These rooms contain 

 about .5000 tons each. The outside walls and par- 

 titions are from 14 to 22 inches thick, and are filled 

 from floor to top with sawdust. The bottom is 

 laid with plank or boards to keep the ice from con- 

 tact with the earth. The rooms have the width 

 facing the river, and stand in two tiers, front and 

 back. Each two rooms, front and back, are con- 

 nected by a narrow opening, and are filled by one 

 elevator. These elevators are on inclined planes 

 running from the top of the building to the edge of 

 the dock. Aprons are then letdown beneath the 

 surface of the water, and a pair of endless chains, 

 having cross-bars every six feet, catch the cakes 

 and carry them up the elevator, one, two, and three 

 cakes to a bar. A little way up the elevator is a 

 simple contrivance for reducing the ice to a uni- 

 form thickness. (The above is a new invention, 

 and has not come into general use.) The cakes are 

 carried up to certain openings to which runways 

 are aflixed, leading into the rooms. After the ice 

 passes through the opening in the elevator it is 

 carried into the building by gravitation. As the 

 building fills, all lower openings are closed, and the 

 one next higher is opened. The machinery Is 

 operated by a powerful steam-engine. 



The cakes, which are 22 x 32 inches, are placed 

 one tier, or course, running lengthwise, the other 

 crosswise of the room, breaking joints. No cake is 

 allowed to touch its fellow except at top and bot- 

 tom, a space of 3 inches being left all round. This 

 facilitates taking the ice out. The lossiin space is 

 more than compensated by the superior condition 

 in which the ice comes out, very little being bro- 

 ken by this method of storing. 



When the ice is of sufiicient strength to hold a 

 team, should there be a considerable fall of snow 

 a force of teams is put at work scraping the ice 

 clear of snow. (For a 40,000-ton house a large 

 number of acres will be cleared.) This clearing is 

 done for two reasons. 1. The ice wJU make fast«r; 

 2. Clear water ice is preferable to pt^rt snow ice, on 

 account of its superior keeping quality. 



When the ice is of proper thickness, say 10 to 13 

 inches, a field of a number of acres having been 

 cleared, two sf/-af(y^( lines are laid through the cen- 

 ter, and at right angles to each other. A marking ice- 

 pjow, which QUtB to the depth of two to three inoh' 



