228 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



Feb. 6, 1S29. 



REFRIGERATORS. 



(Continued from page 218.J 

 Tlie preservation of ice and the economical use 

 of it, depend on the application of principles so 

 nearly similar, that a treatise on ice-houses ought 

 to lead to an understanding of the construction 

 and use of Refrigerators (tliis being the most ap- 

 propriate term I have thought of for tlie machines 

 intended to be here described) and the common 

 method of defending our bodies from tlie inclem- 

 encies of the atmosphere by clothing, if attended 

 to, will instruct us in both. 



Heat is supposed to be excited or generated in 

 animals liy the continued action and reaction of 

 the vessels ; if then it is continually generating it 

 is absolutely necessary that a certain portion 

 should be conveyed away, or the system would 

 soon be destroyed : on the other band if convey- 

 ed or extracted faster than generated, the system 

 would also be destroyed by the contrary extreme 

 (to wit) the fixidity of all its fluid parts. Nature 

 alone has defended brutes from the eftects of these 

 two extremes, and nature and art combined have 

 effected the same thing for man. The surround- 

 ing atmosphere serves as a conductor to carry off" 

 the surplus heat ; but when the atmosphere be- 

 comes so cold as to absorb it faster than it is gen- 

 erated in the body, in order to prevent incon- 

 venience from the change, art has introduced the 

 use of clothing, which renders its esca[)e from the 

 body more difficult. 



Now if we can by any means in summer, re- 

 duce the temperature of a portion of atmosphere 

 a little below 50° of Fahrenheit's scale, and can 

 enclose the same with such a clothing as will pre- 

 vent any accession of heat from without, we have 

 a refrigerator in which fresh tneat when reduced 

 to the same temperature will not putrify ; and if 

 we can still reduce the temperature, to a little be- 

 low 32° and preserve it so, we shall then have 

 one in which water and some other liiiuids will 

 freeze. To effect these purposes at a small ex- 

 pense has been the object of my inquiry ; and 

 I may say I have succeeded quite equal to my ex- 

 pectations. 



I knew that if a tight vessel composed of some 

 good conducting substance was surrounded on all 

 sides with ice, that the heat of its contents what- 

 ever tliey were, would pass rapidly through its 

 sides to the ice, until either the ice was all melt- 

 ed, or the vessel and its contents v/ere reduced to 

 the same temperature : but then, while this pro- 

 cess was going on, the ice, if exposed iu warm 

 weather, would also receive large quantities of 

 beat from the atmosphere ; so that to preserve a 

 vessel and its change of contents in this siiuaticn, 

 would require such a quantity of ice as to render 

 it both troublesome and expensive ; it therefore 

 appeared necessary to ccutrive such a covering; 

 for the ice, as would defend it as much as possible 

 from any heat, except what was received from 

 the filing intended to be cooled. In order to do 

 this, and at the same time to have a vessel of a 

 convenient shape, I had a cedar vessel made in 

 the form of an oval tub, nearly as wide at bottom 

 as top i in this was fitted as large a straight sided 

 tin vessel as it would contain, open at the top : — 

 Tbis of course left interstices between the sides 

 of the tin vessel and the wood, and also at the 

 ends ; the ii:teistices were covered by an edging 

 of tin, which was soldered to the u]iper edge of 

 the tin vessel, and extended on to the upper edge 

 of the wooden vessel, to which it was nailed ; (but 



this edging which connected the two vessels at 

 top, would have been better of wood.) Through 

 tbis last was cut a hole about an inch and a half 

 square on each side, for the purpose of putting in 

 ice. Over the whole was fitted a wooden lid 

 fastened by a binge on one side. A coat or case 

 was then made for it (the whole vessel) which 

 consisted of coarse cloth lined with rabbit skins, 

 the fur side next the cloth and the pelt next to 

 the wood. The coat was in two parts for the 

 convenience of raising the lid ; the part attached 

 to the lid had an edging which bung down all 

 round, and covered the joint when shut. 



Tbis being only an exi)erimeut, was made on a 

 small scale ; the tin vessel being only 14 inches 

 long, 6 wide and 12 deep : It was used for car- 

 rying butter to market, and contained 22 lbs. Be- 

 fore the butter was put in, small lumps of ice were 

 introduced through the holes into the open spaces 

 left between the sides of the two vessels ; the but- 

 ter, weighed off" in pounds, was by a pecidiar and 

 very expeditious mode of printing formed into the 

 shape of bricks, with a device and initial letters in 

 cypher on one side ; these being wtapt separate- 

 ly in linen cloths as usual, were put in edgewise : 

 The first tier always became so hard in a few 

 minutes, that the remainder might be built upon 

 it without injuring the shape. When all was in, 

 pieces of cloth were laid over the holes made for 

 putting in the ice, and the lid shut down and 

 fastened. In this condition it was jiut iuto a car- 

 riage and carried twenty miles to market ; but be- 

 cause there was always butter put up in the usual 

 way,and other things to take atthesame time,it was 

 carried in the night ; had it not been for this cir- 

 cumstance, there would have been no occasion 

 for going in the night. The butter in the hottest 

 weather was always delivered so bard, that it was 

 difficult to make any impression on it with the 

 finger. Sometimes, after having been exposed iu 

 market and frequently ojjencd, when all was sold 

 out, it has been again filled with other butter so 

 soft as scarcely to admit handling, which in a lit- 

 tle time has been taken out nearly as hard as the 

 other ; and after this ice has remained in the ma- 

 chine most of the day. When the ice is melted, 

 the water is drawn oft' at the bottom, or poured 

 out at one of the openings in the top. 



The quantity of ice made use of in these ex- 

 periments, was not fully ascertained ; but was 

 proved to be at least twice as much as would 

 have answered the purpose, bad the spaces left 

 for it been only half as large. The whole cost of 

 this machine was about four dollars : The but- 

 ter always commanded from 4d. to 5id. per lb. 

 higher price than any other butter in market ; so 

 that four times using it |)aid the cost. 



In this machine, the beat passes freely from the 

 butter througli the tin (which is a good conductor) 

 to the ice, and the ice being surrounded by sever- 

 al gooil nonconductors, it can receive but little in 

 any other way. The nonconductors are first, the 

 cloth; secondly, the fur on the rabbit skins ; third- 

 ly, the thin sheet of air confined between the pelts 

 and the wood ; and fourthly the wood itself Yet 

 through all these, a sinall (juantity of beat will 

 find its way ; which we are to expect will be the 

 case in any arrangement that can be made ; but 

 with proper care the quantity will be so small 

 that its effects may be easily overcome. 



The following are some of the useful purposes 

 to which the machine may be applied, besides the 

 one already mentioned. Every housekeeper may 



have one iu his cellar, in which, by the daily use 

 of a few pounds of ice, fresh provisions may be 

 preserved, butter hardened, milk, or any other 

 liquid preserved at any desired temperature ; 

 small handsome ones may be constructed lor table 

 use, in which liquids, or any kind of provisions 

 may be rendered agreeable,as far as it is possible for 

 cooling to have that effect. Butchers, or dealers 

 in fresh provisions may in one of these machines, 

 preserve their unsold meat without salting, with 

 as much certainty as in cold weather ; and I have 

 no doubt, but by the use of them, fresh fish may 

 be brought from any part of the Chesapeake bay, 

 in the hottest weather, and delivered at Baltimore 

 market in as good condition as in the winter 

 season. But for some of these purposes, and per- 

 haps for all, it will be found eligible to alter the 

 arrangement of materials, and also to make use of 

 some other kinds ; particularly for those which are 

 large and are not intended to be often removed. 

 , (To be continued.) 



From Loudon's Gardener's ftlagazine. 



PARIS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. ' 



A Meeting of the Horticultural Society of Paris 

 was lately held, at which we were present. The 

 forms observed in conducting meetings of the So- 

 ciety, diff'er from those of the Horticultural So- 

 cietv of London only in two or three particulars 

 of minor importance. The papers jiresented are 

 not always read by the secretary ; but by the 

 writer, if he is a member, and present, or by the 

 friend through whom he has transmitted it to the , 

 Society. Discussions on the subjects read, which 

 rarely, or never, take |>lace at the meetings of the 

 Horticultural Society of London, Ibrin a leading 

 feature in the meetings of the Horticultural So- 

 ciety of Paris. On the present occasion, there 

 was, first, a great deal of controversial discussion 

 on otficial matters, such as the number of copies 

 of the Annates that ought to be printed ; nest, a 

 paper was read on the culture of the Palate, or 

 sweet potato (Convolvulus Batatas, Lin.,) which 

 gave rise to a variety of observations of consider- 

 able interest in a professional and scientific point 

 of view. The author of the paper was not aware 

 that the Patate had been, for a long time, cultivat- 

 ed in France, till the Comte Lasteyrie and M. 

 Boursalt mentioned the places where they had 

 seen it grown 50 years ago. The writer, M. 

 Loiseleur-Desloiigchamps, stated, and the fact 

 w.",s confirmed to us by 31. Lacroix, that exposing 

 the tubers to a dry air, like fruit in a fruit-room, . 

 hail succeeded better with BI. Vilmorin than any 

 other method. We mention these, to show in 

 what way discussion becomes really useful. We 

 have seen discussion maintained in a similar man- 

 ner, and attenilcd by similar results, in the Zool- 

 ogical Club of the Liiinean Society of London. 



A very interesting account of the anniversary 

 meeting of the Caledonian Horticultural Society, 

 was read by the Chevalier Masclet, partly trans- 

 lated by him from the Scotsman (a newspaper held 

 in great esteem liere, for its liberal and extended 

 views,) and partly from a jn'ivate communication 

 from Mr Neill. It was rendered particularly in- 

 teresting, from the manner in which M. Masclet 

 connected it with the subject of the education and 

 moral improvement of the laborious classes ; the 

 great superiority of Scottish gardeners being at- 

 tributed to their advantages, in this re?spect, over 

 the gardeners of other countries. In the discus- 



