FARM MANAGEMENT 83 



tables, meats and dairy products can be kept with excellent success 

 in this way. Temporary structures for this purpose can be made 

 very cheaply, but the cold storage house should be built with the 

 view of permanence and continuous use. 



The Building. Much of the efficiency of the building for cold 

 storage depends upon the insulation of walls, ceiling and floor. These 

 parts should be constructed so that they will be almost non-conduc- 

 tors of heat. Hence, the use of mineral wool, sawdust, building 

 paper and dead air spaces. These are all poor heat conductors. Air 

 conveys heat rapidly by circulation, but where confined, so that the 

 process must ^o on by conduction, it is very slow. On this account, 

 still or dead air becomes one of our most useful insulating materials 

 in cold storage construction. 



Insulation. The lumber for the insulation should be free 

 from offensive odors. Pine is objectionable on this account. The 

 outside lumber that comes in contact with the soil should be hard 

 and durable. A coat of crude petroleum and a layer of tarred paper 

 before the soil is banked will make it almost indestructible. The 

 lower story may be made of stone, but the insulation will have to 

 be provided besides, as a stone wall will allow the passage of heat very 

 freely. The whole building, roof and all, should be painted, white, 

 in order to retard the absorption of heat from the sun. The interior 

 of the storage house must not be subjected to rapid fluctuations in 

 temperature. For this reason, the refrigerating room should have 

 no door opening directly outside. If the storage room and ice cham- 

 ber are filled with good ice during the winter, the quantity will be 

 sufficient to last throughout the season. The ice in the storage 

 room may be packed in chaff or sawdust, but that in the ice cham- 

 ber should be without packing. When the ice in the chamber is 

 exhausted it should be replenished from the storage room. After 

 the building is supplied with ice in the winter the outside door should 

 be packed with sawdust and not again opened. An inside ladder 

 provides sufficient passageway into the ice chamber. 



Advantages of Home Cold Storage. 1. The ice and cold stor- 

 age house at the home provides a means of keeping products that are 

 of daily demand in the home aifd on the local market ; also those 

 products that are quickly perishable but not of sufficient importance 

 to be sent to the city warehouse. Butter, milk, eggs, poultry and 

 fresh meats of all kinds can be kept in summer without deterioration ; 

 while the summer fruits that decay rapidly under ordinary condi- 

 tions can be kept in cold storage and used or sold at pleasure. 



2. With cold storage at home fruit can be stored quickly and 

 without the injuries caused by shipping. This is of especial im- 

 portance if it is to be sold on the local market. The shipping of 

 fruit injures it unless the most extreme care is taken. Fruit is often 

 shipped to distant warehouses and, after the storage season, is shipped 

 back to the same locality from which it came. This would be 

 avoided by home cold storage. Fruit should be stored as soon as 

 taken from the tree. This is impossible when dealing with distant 

 warehouses, but possible where we have home cold storage. 



