294 THE FARMERY. [Chap. HI. 



count tlie lumber at $12 a thousand, shingles at $4 a tliousand, work at $2 

 a day, nails, hinges, etc., $2, team work $2, and we have a total of $50 for 

 tlie cost of a building that is worth $50 to any farmer every year. "Who 

 would do witliout an ice-house? 



Having given the above as our own plan, we will add the plans of several 

 others. One writer says : 



" Instead of one hollow wall for a non-conductor of heat, as in ordinary 

 ice-houses, 1 have two, with a space between them for confined air. The site 

 is on a gravel slope. The foundation, for convenience in storing ice, is dug 

 two feet below the surface of the ground. The outside wall, for non-con- 

 ducting material, is six inches in the clear. The inside wall is four inches. 

 The doors for entrance correspond perfectly with the hollow walls in 

 thickness, and are filled in the same manner — being shaped to shut with 

 a bevel edge, like the door to safes used by merchants and bankers. 

 At the lower side of the plates is a ceiling, upon wliich I put spent 

 tan one foot thick, which tan is in direct connection with the side-walls, 

 so that any settling in of the walls may be supplied from overhead. 

 From the under side of the ceiling runs a ventilator, with a hole of one and 

 a half inch bore, up through the roof, wliich is finished with an ornamental 

 cap. 



" The room for ice is eight by ten feet in the clear, and eight feet high. 

 About all the waste of ice that I observed during the summer w'as at the 

 bottom, and this was so slow that wo used the ice without regard to economy 

 for a large family, and in a dairy of thirty-five cows, besides giving freely 

 to our neighbors. 



"I put sticks four inches thick in the bottom to put ice on, and also some 

 straw about the sides as well as underneath the ice." 



At a discussion about ice-houses, by the American Institute Farmers' Club, 

 the following facts were elicited : 



Mr. Pakdee read an extract from a paper upon ihe ventilation and drain- 

 age of ice-houses. It states that an underground ice-house is calculated to 

 melt ice much foster than above, because the earth gets heated and melts 

 the ice. 



"William S. Caepentee — It is a question of great moment to farmers how 

 small a cube of ice can be kept well. I have not, in my experience, found 

 tluat one less than ten feet will keep. I have a floor over my ice, which I 

 keep covered with straw, and find it an excellent thing to prevent thawing. 

 I find the bottom layer of my house, which is an underground one, keeps 

 better than tlie layers above. Some of my neighbors think the ice keeps 

 the best if the cakes are set on edge. 



John G. Beegen — The great ice-packers I have seen put in their cakes 

 flat, and very compact. Some of my neighbors break up the blocks of ice, 

 but I prefer the solid blocks. My opinion is that straw is better than salt 

 hay to pack ice in. I should prefer to have a very heavy coat of straw on 

 the ice, and then I don't care about the ventilation above. I will say, how- 



