130 MISCELLANEOUS FARM SUBJECTS 



there with a bar or auger, to allow the water to force itself to the sur- 

 face and gradually to saturate the snow. Snow may be removed from 

 small fields, when necessary, by means of shovels, but upon large 

 fields it will be economical to use horse-power scrapers. 



Under certain conditions the only practicable way of obtaining a 

 supply of natural ice is to catch it as it is going out in the spring. 

 When the snow melts and the spring rains come on the ice at the 

 headwaters of streams breaks up and is carried down in large masses, 

 which can be caught at considerable distances from the localities 

 where it was formed. Those fortunate enough to live conveniently 

 near large streams may often obtain their ice supply in this way. 



Fruit Preservation. In order that fruits may be held for long 

 periods in storage it is necessary that a uniform low temperature be 

 maintained in the store-room. With many products a uniform tem- 

 perature is of more importance than a low temperature. With apples, 

 which is the crop usually held in storage, it is desirable that the fruit 

 reach an advanced state of maturity upon the tree, but that the ripen- 

 ing process be checked immediately when the fruit is placed in stor- 

 age. This sudden check can not be effected in ordinary storage at 

 picking time. It is therefore necessary that the storage house be pro- 

 vided with means for reducing the temperature to the required point 

 and holding it there until natural conditions permit the introduction 

 of cold air from the outside. Several systems have been used for ac- 

 complishing this result. The simplest is to build the ice house as a 

 two-story structure and to store the ice above and the fruit below. 



For the Dairy. Even where for convenience and economy it is 

 desirable to have the dairy under the same roof as the ice house, it is 

 not satisfactory to attempt to combine the ice storage with a cold 

 store. When it is necessary to use ice for chilling milk or other dairy 

 products it is better to remove the ice from the ice house or compart- 

 ment and place it in a specially constructed ice box or refrigerator 

 rather than to attempt to maintain a cold room by storing the ice 

 about and in contact with it. The chief argument against the com- 

 bined arrangement is that it prevents the storage of ice in a solid 

 mass. As a result the waste is much greater. Again, the require- 

 ments of the storage room and the refrigerator vary from time to 

 time. Advantage can be taken of these fluctuations to husband the ice 

 supply when the two are separate. There are decided advantages in 

 having the ice supply convenient to the dairy house or refrigerator, 

 but it is poor economy to build the refrigerator or cold store inside the 

 ice storage. 



Ice House and Refrigerator. When an abundant supply of 

 natural ice can be harvested annually it will be a simple matter to 

 maintain high class refrigeration, for the preservation of eggs, fruit, 

 meats, butter and other farm products, by installing a brine circula- 

 tion system. The principle on which this system works is the same as 

 mechanical refrigeration, except that the cold is secured through a 

 freezing mixture of ice and salt in a tank in which the primary coils 

 are located. As the brine in these coils becomes chilled it passes out 



