212 



NEW ENGLAND FARMEH, 



Jan. 23, 1829. 



FOR THK NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



ICE HOUSES AND REFRIGERATORS. 



Dear Sir— Col. Pickerint, sent me llie accompanying 

 pamphlet on Ice Houses and Rcfi-igoralois, for cxaminalion, 

 anil if I concurred in opinion with him, desired that I would 

 send it to you for republication. 1 think it might be very use- 

 ful. Our butler is brought to market iu a sad state in summer, 

 aiid it makes me blush when 1 reflect, that for more than 30 

 years the Philadelphia market has been supplied with it pack- 

 ed in ice, and since Mr Moore's publication, in Refrigerators. 

 I. P. Datis, Esq. imported one from Philadelphia, some years 

 since, with the hope that it might be adopted here. 



The republication of this tract, in the N. E. Farmer, would, 

 1 think, be the most effectual mttans of exciting our farmers to 

 imitate those of PenniylTania. I am, dear sir. 



Respectfully yours, 



Boston, Jan. 20. J. LOWELL. 



Jin Es.tay on the most eligible construdion of Ice 



Houses ; also, a description of the newly invented 



Refrigerator, being a simple and cheap machine, 



by the use of which fresh provisions, butter, liquids, 



SfC. may be cooled and preserved for family uses 



in th€ heat of summer, or taken to market in as 



good condition as in the winter season. 



Agreeably to an intimation given the public 



some time since, I shall now endeavor to give 



some practical directions for the construction of 



Refrigerators, and (as being connected therewith) 



also attempt an investigation of the theory and 



practice of the art of preserving ice through the 



summer. 



I stated in a publication which circulated 

 through several newspapers in the United States, 

 that I had no pretensions to the discovery of new 

 principles in the construction of the Refrigerator. 

 The particular mode of applying some befor 

 known and understood, is all I claim ns my in- 

 vention ; the utihty of which has been fully prov 

 ed during the last summer. 



What I have to observe on the keei)ing of ice 

 is merely an attempt to carry improvements al 

 ready begun a step further than I have yet heard 

 of. I have apprehended the reason why the art 

 has not progressed faster, is because no one has 

 'yet fully investigated the principles upon which it 

 depends ; or, if this has been done by individuals, 

 they have not favored the public witit a knowl- 

 edge thereof This is my present object, and for 

 reasons which will hereafter appear, I prefer 

 going through it, before I enter on the subject of 

 Refrigerators. 



In treating this subject, it will be necessary to 

 lay down certain j)o.sitions relative to heat ; some 

 of which have not been well understood until very 

 lately. All that I shall ofler, have, however, been 

 fully established by actual experiment. And in 

 order to be as concise as possible, I shall avoid 

 referring to the different writers who have pub- 

 lished those valuable discoveries to the world. 



Philosophical readers will know where to look for 

 them, and those of a (litferent class, it is presum- 

 ed, will not wish to be troubled with such refer- 

 ences or quotations. 



Water is converted into ice at the temperature 

 of 32° of Fahrenheit's Thermometer ; and as long 

 as any water remains in contact with the ice, the 

 temperature of the ice will remain nearly station- 

 ary, but when the water is all frozen, the ice will 

 gradually give out its heat to the incumbBnt at- 

 mosphere, until it acquires the same temperature. 

 Ice exposed to an atmosphere at any temperature 

 above 32°, or, if placed in contact with any sub- 



stance above that degree of temperature, will, in 

 either case be melted. The temperature of the 

 earth a few feet below the surface in this chmate, 

 is generally found to be between 50 and 65°. If, 

 therefore, a pit b« sunk in the earth and filled 

 with the coldest ice, (which may sometimes be 

 obtained as low as 10° by remofing it from the 

 water and exposing it to a very cold atmosphere,) 

 the consequence will be, that the earth will give 

 out heat to the ice, until the temperature of the 

 mass is raised to 32° ; the process of melting will 

 then commence, and continue to go on, as long as 

 ice remains. But this process will not be as rap- 

 id as those who are unacquainted with the subject 

 might imagine : it would seem, that as melting 

 ice is always found to be at the temperature of 

 32°, that after the mass becomes raised to that 

 degree, the smallest addition of heat, would im- 

 mediately convert the whole iuto water ; but this 

 is not found to be the case ; to prevent it, one of 

 the many wonderful properties of matter interpos- 

 es ; and which only enables us to preserve ice at 

 all. This is the difference between water and 

 ice in their capacities for heat. As I would wish 

 to be clearly understood by every class of readers, 

 and as I may probably have occasion to repeat 

 this term, it will perhaps, be proper to give a defi- 

 nition of it. The capacity for heat which a body 

 is said to possess, is, its propensity or power of 

 imbibing and retaining a greater or lesser quanti- 

 ty of that fluid, and at the same time appear to be 

 of the same temperature as a given standard, 

 which may contain a much greater or smaller 

 quantity. Thus in the subject under considera- 

 tion, the capacity of water for heat, is greater 

 than ice ; it being found by experiment, that ice 

 at the temperature of 32°, requires the addition 

 of no less than 146° of the same scale, or there- 

 abouts, to reduce it to water. To elucidate the 

 subject still further, let a pound of water at the 

 freezing point (to wit) 32°, and a pound of ice at 

 the same temperature, be put in situations where 

 they will both receive an equal quantity of heat ; 

 when the ice is all melted, it will be found that 

 the water has acquired 146° of heat, and of 

 course will be at 178°. Or take a pound of 

 water at 178°, and a pound of ice at 32°, put 

 them together and cover them in a fit vessel, 

 the ice will be melted and the mixture will be 32° 

 or very nearly. 



It appears then, that ice at 10°, deposited in a 

 pit as before mentioned, and being in this solid 

 state capable of conducting heat, must receive a 

 sufficient quantity to raise the whole mass 22°, 

 before ally will be melted ; when the melting pro- 

 cess commences, it will cease to be propagated to 

 the internal parts, because all that is received at 

 the surface, will go to supply the increased capac- 

 ity of the water ; and this will be produced in di- 

 rect proportion to the heat received. The whole 

 quantity requisite to melt all the ice, being just as 

 much as would raise the temperature of the same 

 weight of water 178°. The greater the quantity 

 of ice, the longer it will be in melting, because, 

 there will be less surface in proportion to its 

 weight, and experience has proved, that the quan- 

 tity may be so great, as not to be all melted diu-- 

 ing a whole summer, in this situation. 



It seems then, our whole business is to guard 

 against the introduction of heat; and in order to 

 take effectual measures for this jim'pose, it is ne- 

 cessary to be acquainted with, and attend to, the 

 following principles. That heat is transmitted 



Svitli more difficulty through some sirbstances thai* 

 others; that it passes through fluid mediums, by- 

 transjiortation, or the interchange of particles ; 

 and not from one particle to another, as in solid 

 bodies. The capacity of air for retaining moist- 

 ure is greatly increased by heat. The power of 

 air to conduct heat is increased more than four 

 fold by moisture. An unequal distribution of heat: 

 in fluids will always produce currents or inter- 

 change of particles ; in genera! those of the high- 

 est temperature will rise to the surface ; there is, 

 however, an exception to this rule in water ; be- 

 tween the temperatures of 40 - and 32°, that fluid 

 is more expanded than at temperatures a little 

 higher, and consequently those particks which 

 receive a small additional heat, will descend. To 

 this extraordinary property in water, is to be as- 

 cribed some of the most wonderful phenomena iti 

 nature ; but does not affect the subject utider con- 

 sideration. Substances which transmit heat free- 

 ly, such as the metals, arc called conductors of 

 heat ; and those through which it passes with dif^ 

 ficulty, such as wool, fur, &c. are called noncon- 

 ductors ; and they are called good or bad conduc- 

 tors, or nonconductors, agreeably to their degree 

 of conducting power. 



(To be continued.) 



From the Mass. Agric. Repository. 



The Caledonian Horticultural Society in 1817, 

 sent a deputation into the Low Countries and 

 France to ascertain what improvements had been 

 made in Horticulture or Gardening, during the 

 tw°''i'V years in which intercourse had been cut 

 offiis .S'ocipn Scotland and the Continent by that 

 scourge atid disgrace of human nature, war. It 

 was a most praiseworthy example, and the reports 

 of that committee have been published this year, 

 1823, in an octavo volume full of interesting mat- 

 ter in relation to Gardening, to fruits, and or- 

 chards. We shidl only have time and room for 

 the insertion of some short articles. 



At Brt^es in Flanders, proverbially the seat of 

 the most improved agriculture, the committee on 

 the 12th of August, inake the following remarks: 

 " In the course of our evening walk, we were at- 

 tracted by a novel appearance in husbandry, the 

 labors of the seed time and harvest seeming here 

 to be united and contemporaneous. We entered a 

 fine field of luxuriant rye, part of which remained 

 uncut, but a large proportion had been cut down 

 this morning (August 12th.) The crop had been 

 carried aside ; well rotted dung had been pretty 

 liberally laid on the stubble ; the Flemish plough 

 was now at work : and to complete the picture of 

 industry, and expedition, a man was actually en- 

 gaged iu sowing turnips on the same portions of 

 the ploughed fields from which the rye crop had 

 been reaped in the morning." This example 

 ought not to be lost upon us. Our sun is much 

 more powerful, and our vegetation more rapid 

 than in Flanders. We know that some farmers 

 do raise their second crops v.'ith us ; but may we 

 not carry this system much farther ? We certain- |j 

 ly can do it, by limiting the extent of our cultivat- | 

 ed grounds, and bestowing greater labor on the 

 quantity we do cultivate. 



PROFESSOR VAN MO.NS OP BRUSSELS. 



The Caledonian committee above mentioned, 

 visited the nurseries of this active and intelligent 

 horticulturist. He is Professor of Chemistry at 

 Louvain, but has turned his attention very exten- 



