550 



F A U iVl E R S' REGISTER 



[No. 9 



tions, if they are furnished with peat moderately 

 dry, and dung not lost in litter, they throw it up 

 together as a mixed mass; and they unprove in 

 the art, so as to make a less proportion of dung 

 serve for the preparation. 



The addition recommended, of ashes or hme to 

 the compost, is thought to lavor the general per- 

 fijction of the preparation, and to hasten the se- 

 cond heat. The lime laid on above the dunghill, 

 as directed, is rendered mild by the vapors that 

 escape during the first heat. 



Compost, made up before January, has hither- 

 to been in good order Ibr the spring crops ; but 

 this may not happen in a long frost. In summer, 

 it IS ready in eight or ten weeks ; and if there is 

 an anxiety to have it soon prepared, the addition 

 of ashes, or of a little lime rubbish of old buildings, 

 or of lime slacked with Ibul water, applied to the 

 dung used in making up, will quicken the process 

 considerably. 



Lime has been mixed previously with the peat ; 

 but the compost prepared with that mixture, or 

 with the simple peat, seemed to produce equally 

 good crops. All the land, however, that it has 

 been tried on, has been limed more or less within 

 these twenty-five years. 



The rich coarse earth, which is frequently found 

 on the surface of peat, is too heavy to be admitted 

 into this compost ; but it makes an excellent top- 

 dressing, if previously mixed and turned over wiih 

 lime. 



Peat, prepared with lime alone, has not been 

 found to answer as a good manure. In one in- 

 stance, viz. on a bit of fallow, sown with wheat, 

 it was manifestly pernicious. 



ON THE CONSTRUCTION OP ICEHOUSES, AND 

 STOWING AWAY OF ICE. 



To the Editor of the American Parmer. 



Sir — Having observed in a late number of the 

 American Farmer, some remarks upon the con- 

 venience and utility of secunng a plentiful supply 

 of ice, for use through the summer season, I take 

 the liberty to add a few observations upon the 

 subject, which, if you think useful, you are at 

 liberty to insert in your valuable journal. 



As it would neither be convenient to myself, 

 nor beneficial to the object we have in view, to 

 enter upon an extended discussion of (his subject, 

 I shall at once proceed to remark, that ihe com- 

 mon manner pursued, by almost every one in 

 putting up ice, is to throw it promiscuously inio 

 the house, and then employ laborers to break it 

 into small pieces. In this manner of securing ii, 

 numberless interstices are formed by the angles 

 of the pieces after they are broken, which being 

 filled with air, operate of course through the sea"^ 

 son, to promote the decay of the ice, and greatly 

 accelerate its dissolution. 



The manner which I have pursued, and which 

 I strongly recommend to the observance of your 

 readers, is, to cut the ice as nearly into squares as 

 can conveniently be done, and when conveyed to 

 the house, lay these down carefully, in regular 

 layers, taking care to break them as little as^pos- 

 sible. As soon as the first layer or stratum is 

 completed, fill up with fine ice all the crevices, 

 which the angles in the pieces may have oc- 



casioned, then sweep the surface clean, from all 

 small fragments of ice, so as to leave a smooth 

 clear floor or surface, to commence your succeed- 

 ing stratum or layer upon ; and thus proceed, 

 until the house shall have been completely filled. 

 In this manner, I have found that one-third more 

 ice can be stowed in a given space, than could 

 be put into it by the ordinary mode of" pounding ; 

 and as there will not be the smallest crevice 

 throughout the whole mass, if the plan here re- 

 commended is properly executed, it is confidently 

 asserted that the ice will last douhh as long as 

 under the common mode of securing it. 



Every ice-house should be provided with a 

 drain to carry off the drippings throughout the 

 warm season, unless the bottom be an open por- 

 ous sandy soil ; as nothmg is so fatal to ice as 

 moisture. This drain should be so constructed as 

 not to admit air; else a constant current of warm 

 atmosphere will be drawn to the bottom of the 

 ice, which will rapidly destroy it. The house, 

 which the writer of these remarks has erected, is 

 of the most simple construction, and a similar one 

 may be built by any fiirmer, (or an expense not 

 exceeding .^30. It has been filled in the manner 

 here recommended, and has not been without ice 

 since it was first stocked, and at this time con- 

 tains a considerable quantity, notwithstanding the 

 most profuse use was made of it, by two famdies, 

 during the whole of last summer. 



The following plan is recommended, in the con- 

 struction of ice-houses : Dig a pit on the north 

 or norih-west side of a bank or hill, 18 feet square, 

 and about 11 feet deep on the upper side, to which 

 depth, the pit may be raised all round, by the dirt 

 being thrown to the lower side ; build in this pit a 

 house of white oak logs, so as to leave a clear 

 space between the outsides of the house and the 

 wall of the pit, of about two feet. If the bank is 

 of hard clay, it will need no stay : if it be not of 

 clay, or hard firm soil, it must be stayed by pieces 

 of plank propped against it, from the outsides of 

 the logs, so as lo prevent its covering the space 

 between the logs ; and this bank should be filled 

 all round with straw, and the insides of the logs 

 boarded up, so as to present a smooth even sur- 

 face ; this will leave the inside of the house about 

 12 or 13 feet square, which will be sufficient for 

 an}' family. 



The drain from the bottom of the house, should 

 be placed on the lowest side, to which a sufficient 

 fall ouglu to be secured from all parts of the Ibun- 

 daiion. The drain should be formed by stone, so 

 laid as to afJbrd an opening for the water readily 

 to pass off, and then covered up with earth, taking 

 care to allow to it a sufficient fall ; and then its ter- 

 mination be covered slightly with earth, so that no 

 air can pass up, whilst the moisture may gradually 

 soak through. Lay at the bottom of the house, 

 sleepers, so as to raise the planks to be placed 

 upon them, about one foot from the ground, and 

 upon these planks lay your first strata of ice, as 

 is here before directed. 



After raising your house with logs, (as here re- 

 commended, to the height of about 14 feet,) build 

 another house over it, with logs, to be placed upon 

 the surface of the ground, at the outer edge of the 

 pit ; raise this house about three feet high, upon 

 which place your roof, and from the inner logs 

 which inclose the ice, to the outerones, which sup- 

 port the roof) nail planks, and stow the whole 



