VOL,. X. 



BOSTON, W EDJVESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 26, 1831. 



NO. 15. 



© ® ai ai w sr a >sii a a © sr Qa 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



ICE HOUSES. 



Mr Fessknden 

 difficulty in keeping ice through the suniiiier ; — 

 having tried lor several years, but cannot Ivcep it 

 longer, than from llie middle of Jidy to tlie 1st 

 of August. My ice house is huilt on a gravelly 

 knoll and the soil in the vicinity is of a gravelly 

 loam — the worst kind I apprehend, in which lo 

 locate an ice house. It is lined on the out side 

 with clay and is covered with a shingled roof. 

 The ice put into it lias generally been of a good 

 thickness and put in at a proper time. Why I 



cold. Even air, which 



IS capable of motion, and , the ico chamber and the bank with clean drvs-nw 

 can have commumcatmn with the earth or aln.o.s-; closely pressed ; this being done early will pre- 

 phere must bo excluded from ice ; for though air [ vent the earth from freezing, which vvouM be iniu 

 IS not a conductor Jt is a carrier of heat. It will ' rious to the sides of ihe pit. The ice should be 

 , , -11 ''"^^'"'P '""■'"'■'^=' "*" '"^"t' ■''•y ''■"'" 'I'e earth, or >collerte<l ill the coldest weather- let it bppv,.nc„,l 



I have experienced much from water, or from anything else which is above ' at least one night to the atlspliore after it Ire 

 Its own temperature, and cany and deliver them to j moved from the water, which will reduce its tern 

 ice, or anything which is below its own tempera- porature many degree.., if the weather is 

 ture. 



J[r Thomas Moore, of Montgomery County, 

 Maryland, has written a treatise on this suliject 

 which gives the following directions for construct- 

 ing an ice house. 



The most favorable situation is a north hill side, 

 near the top. On such a site open a pit twelve 

 f(;et square at top, ten at bottom, and eight or nine 



have had no better success m preserving ice, 1 ! feet deep. Logs may be laid round the top at tne 

 cannot tell, except it be the general character of- l,ci;inning, and the eawh dug out raised behind 

 the soil around it, which, as I observed, is gravMij. t|,e,„, s,, as to make a part of the pit. A drain 

 As this IS the season to build or repair i'-e . should be made at one corner ; the spout to carry 

 houses for the approaching winter, I wish to in- | ..j,- ,„e water should descend from the nit, except 

 quire, through the medium of your paper, of i ^ ,l,„rt space at the outward extremity, which 

 those that are conversant with the subject and have ou„i,t ,„ rise with a curve, so that the depressed 

 had good success in keeping ice—What are the !,„ ^..ji, „Kv„yg „^„d full of water, and prevent 

 ino.st approved methods of constructing ice houses, , communication with ex.ernalair. Dig holes in the 

 m general ? What is the best kind of soil in which i,oUo,i, of the pit, and set therein four perpendic- 

 [L"\ t c .'."V ,.l! 1"'!' A i.°"L.°' ''■.,. °''_" I "lar corner posts, and an intermediate one on each 



siile ; let the inside of these posts form a square 



wooden frame best for the body of the builJin^^ 

 What size for a family of S or 10 persons.' Is 

 it best lo have them entirely covered with ejrtb, 

 or with a shingled roof? Should it be nearly 

 airtight, during the warm weather, or should tliere 

 be a free circulation of air over the ice .' What 

 would be the effect of lining ice houses on the 

 inside with powdered charcoal or coal dust? 



An answer to any or all of these queries and 

 any general remarks upon the subject of construci- 

 ing ice houses and preserving ice, from any of 

 your numerous correspondents would much bene- 

 fit a constant reader of your useful periodical, 

 from Franklin County, Mass. C. 



By the Editor. — We should be happy to receive 

 niid publish information on the subject of the 

 above communication from any iiersons who have 

 a practical or theoretic knowle.dgo of this impor- 

 tant branch of economy. In the meantime we 



of eight feet in the middle of the iiit. Then in 



order to avoid dampness from below, cover the 



bottom three or four inches with dry s.ind, if it 



can conveniently be got. The next thing to be 



done I consider as the most material, and also ex- 

 pensive part of the business ; which is fixing a 



proper floor for the ice to rest on. In order to do 



this, let tlinie iiv four sleepers, supporleil at tlieir 



ends be placed across the square included by the 



posts, their upf/cr edges about a foot from the bot- 

 tom, but so tluit the plank laid thereon may have 



a descent of a few inches towards one of the sides 



next the drain. The plank should be tVvo inches 



thick, and about half seasoned, jointed, grooved 



and tongued or lathed, and grooves cut near the 



joints in the upper side so as to prevent any wiiter 



from going through. The floor must extend a 



litlle without the inner sides of the posts, so that 



the water, dripping from the sides, may fall on the 

 will offer some remarks, which may be worthy ofi floor. Then fix a plank or spout at the lower end of 

 some attention, though not the result of personal j 'he floor, in sucli a manner as to convey the water 

 experieiife. | into the drain. The floor being completed, begin 



The whole art of preserving ice consists in | "t tlie bottom, and plank up on the insides of the 

 guarding the ice house against tlie admission of po.<ts with, 3-4 or 5-8 planks lapping the lower chimney to convey away the' heated moist 



- . - severe. 



When put into the house, it should be beat small, 

 anil I think it would be useful frequenlly to sprin- 

 kle it with a watering pot whilst putting in, the 

 mass would by that means be rendered more com- 

 pact. When the chamber is filled, cover the 

 whole with a good thickness of straw ; but I sup- 

 pose it would be best to cover the ice first with 

 planks, supported by the sides of the chamber, only 

 leaving a door to descend through. 



Such a hou.se as has been described, will con- 

 tain about ten tons, and 1 am persuaded will be 

 found sufficient to afTord an ample supply for al- 

 most any private fainily. 



This is nearly ihe kind I hail in view when I 

 estim.ited the expense would not exceed twenty 

 dollars, and if ue calculated on a great part of the 

 work being done by the family, which in the 

 country in general it very well may, the actual 

 oiillay in many places need not be five dollars. 

 Those who are less sparing of expense, if they 

 choose, may wall, or what is better plank tqi the 

 sides of the pit, and finish the roof in a st) le of 

 elegance. 



In level situ y io n?. w here a drain cannot be con- 

 veniently dug^BSiTiom the bottom of the pit, 1 

 should suppose it would answer very well to in- 

 close the ice by a niouiid raised entirely above 

 the surface of the earth, through which the water 

 may be discharged ; in other respects to be simi- 

 lar to the foregoing description. This perhaps 

 would not be quite so cool a repository as if under 

 the surface of the earth ; unless the mound wag 

 very thick ; but I am persuaded that the loss of a 

 very few degrees of temperature bears very little 

 proporti(m to the ailvantage resulting from dry- 

 ness. 



If it were certain that the floor .vonld be per- 

 fectly light, the passage of heat to the ire would 

 be rendered still more diflicult by confining a 

 qiianliiy of dry ashes, saw dust, straw, or some 

 other nonconductor between the floor and the bot- 

 tom of the pit. 



Willich's Domestic Encyclopedia says ' A 



heat. Ileat is excluded from ice in a well con- ' fii'gP of each a little on ihe one below, so that the 

 Etructed ice house, in the same manner, or by [ water may be kept on the insirle ; this <lone to the 

 attention to the same principles by which animate ifp of the post, (which should be even with the 

 bodies, vegetables, &,c, are guarded against frost, j 'op of the pit) and the inside will be completed. 

 The thing to be preserved, must in either i^ase be I except that it will be proper to cover the floor with 

 surrounded by substances through which heat | loose plank previous to putting in the ice. The 

 cannot pass. Those substances through which roof may be composed of any materials, and in 



heat cannot pass, or through which it passes slow- 

 ly are called non-conductors. Such are wool, fur, 

 wood, (Sic. Substances, which transmit heat free- 

 ly, such as the metals are called conductors of heat. 

 The last mentioned, though heavy and apparently 

 solid, permit heat to pass through lliem, like water 

 through a riddle. If we wish to keep ice we 

 should proceed to fence against external heat, 

 in the same way that we would g-uard against 



liny form that will defend the contents of the pit 

 from wet, from the direct rays of the sun, and also 

 admit a free circulation of air. I do not think 

 any could answer the purpose better than one 

 made of thatch, supported by posts a few feet 

 from the ground. 



The mode of filling the bouse remains now to 

 be considered ; and on this much depenil 



an essential requisite to all ice houses not much 

 used, and which are placed in unfavorable situa- 

 tions. It is the want of this chimney, which occa- 

 sions the disappointment of many persons, anxious 

 10 preserve ice in summer. 



Loudon says {Encyclopedia of Gardening, [lage 

 .390,) Ice is kcjit on the continent in cellars, at a 

 greater or less depili from the surface according to 

 the climate. Tliese cellars are without window?, 

 surrounded by very thick walls, and enlereil by 

 louble and treble doors, sometimes placed in an- 

 gular or circuitous passages, and always with inter- 

 vals of several feet between them. Sometimes 

 precautions are taken to carry olTany water which 

 may arise fmm a p,irtial thaw by forming gutters 



Early in the winter fill the interstices between'! across the floor and covering it with a grating- of 



