41 



temporary structure for the purpose. The ice stack is also likely to 

 be inconvenient in location. A satisfactory place for it may not be 

 available near the buildings. It is unsightly in appearance, and if 

 located at some distance from the house and barns it will not give 

 the service desired. The ice stack is, however, of value as a means 

 of supplementing an inadequate home supply during the early part 

 of the season. This is particularly likely to be true on large dairy 

 farms where the ice house is not of sufficient capacity to carry a full 

 summer supply. Under these conditions an ice stack built near the 

 pond where the ice is gathered, or at some place convenient to the 

 barns, may have its place of usefulness. 



The third type of farm ice-storage may be termed the makeshift 

 ice house. It consists in the appropriation, for the purpose of stor- 

 ing ice, of one end of the woodshed, a box stall in the stable, a corner 

 in a leanto shed, the tool house or an abandoned chicken house. 

 Occasionally such a makeshift ice-storage may be satisfactory and 

 hold as much ice as is needed. The probabilities are, however, that 

 it will not permit of adequate insulation, and that it will not carry 

 sufficient ice to supply the farm needs through the summer. Not 

 being constructed for the immediate purjjose of storing ice it will not 

 be adequately drained ov ventilated, and if located in a conspicuous 

 part of the farmyard it may prove to be a very unsightly part of 

 the farm equipment. If ice is stored in a makeshift house care must 

 be taken to see that there is no danger from fire as a result of spon- 

 taneous combustion in the insulating material. 



Of storage houses there are many sizes, forms and methods of 

 construction. The essentials of an ice house are : first, capacity large 

 enough for its purpose; second, good insulation so as to prevent 

 rajiid loss of the ice through melting; third, drainage to carry away 

 the water from the bottom of the pile of ice, as it melts; fourth, 

 ventilation at the top of the iee pile ; fifth, convenience of location ; 

 sixth, an appearance that does not detract from the general attrac- 

 tiveness of the farm buildings; seventh, reasonable cost. 



The size of the ice house must be calculated in cubic feet of capac- 

 ity, allowing 45 to 50 cubic feet of space for each ton of ice to be 

 stored. A house 12 feet square and 11 feet high will hold approxi- 

 mately 25 tons of ice, — sufficient to supply a moderate-sized farm 

 where the consumption of ice for milk cooling is not exceptionally 

 large, — allowing space for the insulating material. 



The most effective insulating materials available are dead air, 

 wood and paper. Brick, stone, earth and concrete are fair con- 

 ductors of heat, and are therefore not desirable for insulating pur- 

 poses, though brick, stone and concrete may in some cases be desir- 

 able as outside walls, either for the sake of their superior lasting 

 qualities or because they may correspond to the materials used in 

 otlier buildings on the farm in question. Since wood is the only 



