292 



TUE FARMERY. 



[Chap. in. 



mun as tlierc is a lull iu the work of haying and harvest he will set about 

 building an ice-house, which ho can do with his own hands and coninion 

 lann-laborers ; and with less than the work of one hand and team during a 

 week iu winter, he can lay up such a store of ice that he need never drink 

 warm water, nor eat soft butter, nor fear to kill a sheep lest the meat should 

 sj)oil before it could be eaten. 



Let all remember this fact : Ice is not a luxury; that is, one that can be 

 dispensed with, and may be indulged in only by the wealthy ; but one of 

 the must economical things that can be provided for family use. It is an 

 article that no farmer can afford to do Avithout. 



Now, having given arguments enough to convince any man that he 

 should build an ice-house, we proceed to tell him how to do it. 



314. How to Build an Ice-llousCi — Au ice-house is not the complicated, 

 costly structure that some people appear to think it is. Quite the contrary, 

 it is one of the easiest and most simple things to build, needing very little 

 mechanical skill, and being quite inexpensive. All of the work about an 

 ice-house can be done by any farmer of ordinary Yankee capacity in the use 

 of such a set of carpenters' tools as every farmer should keep. In the first 

 ]>lace, it is not necessary to build an ice-house under ground, although in 

 dry, gravelly soil it may be built so at less expense than on the surface, and 

 it is easier filled. A hill-side is the most convenient location, with the gable 

 of one end above the surface, in which have an opening to put in ice — the 

 other end, to a level with the floor, being exposed — through which we would 

 have the ordinary entrance by double doors. In such a situation we would 

 use broken stone, making a hollow, grouted wall ; and the same kind of wall 

 might be built on level ground ; and a very good, cheap, durable wall it is. 

 Brick or stone may also be used for the walls, according to the fancy of the 

 builder, always making them hollow, and the outer and inner part of the 

 Avail absolutely as air-tight as could be made Avith brick and mortar. 



The cheapest, easiest and quickest constructed ice-house, and one all-suffi- 

 cient for the jiurjiose, is built of Avood ; and the money difference in cost 

 placed at interest will more than keep the wooden house in repair and good 

 as brick or stone. So Ave will give directions for building a plain, cheap, 

 common, rough-board, farm ice-house, large enough for all ordinary private 

 families. 



Select a spot of ground convenient to the kitchen door, and remove the soil 

 and put coarse gravel or sand in its place, Avith drains leading aAvay from 

 the eaves, so constructed that it AA'ill be absolutely impossible for Avater 

 to stand under or around the building. Lay down two-inch plank six inches 

 wide, bedded their thickness in the sand, for sills ; the end ones eight feet 

 long and side ones thirteen feet. Cut your studs off square, eight feet long, 

 of any size or Avidth that you can get in the refuse heap at the nearest saAv- 

 mill or lumber-yard, so that you can get one straight side, and set them up 

 face side in, and toe-nail them to the sill, Avith an inch-board on top for a 

 plate, upon Avliich rest the joist ; nail up through the plate to hold them 



