206 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



[Jan. 21, 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. ''^"'■*'^'' "P"'^""''^- The depressed part being fil- 



led with water, all communication with the ex- 



FRIDAY, JANUARY 21, 1825. 



ternal nir will be cut off, while the escape of 

 ! the (3iii(l will be but slightly obstructed. Where 

 the excavation is an open and porous soil, the 

 abour of digging a passage may be avoided by 



*^* We 3haU insert next week the valuable Report of 

 the Committee of the Massachusetts Agricultural 

 Society on Agricultural Experiments— also the sug- j gi^i^ip^ oneftwo", or more little wells, through 



gestions of a respected correspondent at Albany— j ^vhich the water will go down and disappear. 



-and remarks on the popular superstition of the 

 " Twelve Days of Christmas." " A Farmer,"—" A 

 Friend to Improvement" — "S" — "W" — some further 

 Remarks on the " Cultivation of the Vine," are re- 

 ceived. — &c. 



may 



iFarmri's Calendar. 



Preservation OF Ice. Although we have here- 

 tofore gone pretty much at large into this sub- 

 ject, a recapitulation of some of our former re- 

 marks, with some additional observations 

 prove useful. 



The uses of ice in hot weather are too nu- 

 merous to recapitulate, and too obvious to re- 

 quire a statement. Ifyou have no building prop- 

 er for an Ice House, and either from th"e late- 

 ness of the season, or a wish to avoid expense, 

 do not wish to erect one, you may well keep it 

 in a common cellar. Place boards on sleepers, 

 so that the boards may lie a few inches from 

 the botfons of the cellar. Build a bin on these 

 boards, and cover its bottom with straw, spent 

 tan, or, what is said to be still better, dry shav- 

 ings, made by planing boards, so that when 

 pressed down by the superincumbent ice, t^'ey 

 may remain about a foot in thickness. Place 

 your ice on these boards, leaving a space be- 

 tween it and the sides of the bin, of a foot or 

 more, to be tilled with the shavings, or other 

 materials like those which you had placed at 

 the bottom. Cover the whole with the same 

 substances, and your process is completed. A- 

 round this you may place vour pans of milk, 

 pots of cream, butler, your fresh meat, and other 

 articles uhich require a low temperature for 

 their preservation. 



With regard to the construction of an ice- 

 house, we have given some directions, together 

 with an engraving, in the 2d volume of the New 

 England Farmer, page 125. The following par- 

 agraphs, copied from a late number of the Na- 

 tional ^gis, may, however, furnish some useful 

 nmts, not embraced in that article. 



" On the northern ileclivity of a hill, where 

 the soil is a loose gravel or sand, a pit of con- 

 venient size is to be excavated. To prevent the 

 earth from falling back upon the cellar thus 

 opened, as well as better to secure the ice which 

 is to be stored away from the heat, a wall is to 

 be raised of logs, plank, brick, or stone at the 

 distance of about a foot from the turroiniding 

 earth. This space is to be tilled with straw, 

 leaves, or tan, [or shavings]. A floor is thvn laid 

 over the bottom, a roof placed above, and the 

 whole is completed. This is the outline of the 

 work. It may be convenient to explain its parts 

 more in detail, commencing at the foundation. 

 " That the ice may be dry, and that the water 

 produced by its melting may be carried otT, it is 

 proper that the house should be furnished viilh 



" The floor shoulil be raised on sleepers above 

 the groimd. It is usual to make the floor of 

 jointed plank, tight, except at the edges. A 

 cheap subsliliule may be found in round poles or 

 split sticks of sufficient strength to support the 

 mass that is to rest upon them. The moisture 

 will fliiw through the crevices and be absorbed 

 by the soil, or pass oflT through the drain. 



'' The walls should stand wiihin the square^ 

 separated from the bank on the exterior, and 

 from the ice within. A partition may be made 

 of coarse boards on the interior, and the space 

 around the walls lined with some substance hav- 

 ing the po'.< cr oi' repelling heat. Charcoal pos- 

 sesses this non-conducting property in a high 

 degree. A tew bushels will be sufficient to till 

 up the interval without and vvithih, and will es- 

 sentially aid and prevent the dissolution of the 

 ice when packed. 



" Having constructed the body of the house, 

 the roof is to be added. It may be composed of 

 any materials, having a proper slope to turn 

 away the rain. The internal heat of the earth 

 is always greater than the freezing point. Com- 

 municating with the air surrounding the ice, 

 it imparts warmth to the lower stratum. This 

 rises to the top, and if there be no aperture for 

 escape, falls back and hastens on the dissolving 

 of the ice. To avoid this evil, the buildingshoulil 

 be so contrived as to permit ventilation. The 

 opposite sides may be connected by a floor of 

 boards, and the garret loi mod by the slope of the 

 roof may be filled «ilh clean and dry straw, or 

 other non-conducting substances. A door lor 

 entrance should be opened on the Nsrlh. 



" The house being provided, it is next to be 

 filled. The ice should be taken on a severely 

 cold day, and es[>osed in the open air during the 

 following night, that its temperature may be re- 

 duced as much as possible. The heat retained, 

 even by so cold a substance, although always 

 less than 32°, is a quantity not to be neglected 

 by those who would enjoy the luxuries ice af- 

 ford-; in the midst of summer. If one mass when 

 deposited, is at 1", and another at 3U°, ^vllen 

 the air shall have received an additional warmth, 

 the forn er will begin to dissolve, while the lat- 

 ter will remain unchanged. The atmosphere 

 must have communicated 31"^ ol heat to the last 

 nii'ss before it will waste. 



" If blocks are sawed or cut square, they may 

 be more conveniently packed than in any other 

 shape. The larger ihey may be, the better 

 ihev will be preserved. When a stratum of 

 large pieces has been placed upon the floor, the 

 crevices should be carelully filled with pounded 

 and small pieces, to render the whole compact. 

 It is proper to avoid breaking the masses, tor 

 no skill can render the tVagments as close as they 

 were in their former union. When separated, 

 the air conies between, tilling the small cavities, 

 and soon occasions the mcU>ug of the surfaces. 



crevices between the edges and the lining of the- 

 walls should be closed, to exclude the air Water 

 may be thrown upon the cakes till all arc frozen 

 solid. Al"ler the first layer is adjusted, a second 

 is to be [daced over it, the last covered with 

 straw ; and thus the whole is filled. 



" It is said to be proper that the doors of Ice- 

 houses should be left open durin? the clear cold 

 weather, and closed in the damp and moist. 



" In the preservation of ice there need not be 

 much expense. It is said, that large masses 

 placed upon a bed of charcoal and covered with 

 straw, will remain in a common cellar, almost 

 through the summer. 



" The process is more tedious in description 

 than in execution; and the building may appear 

 more formidable on pap<>r, than when actually 

 erected on the earth. The mode of operatioii 

 and conslruction is explained in the foregoing 

 article in a geni'ral manner. The ingenuity of 

 each person will suggest improvements, and 

 make such alterations as will adapt the pian to 

 iiis own situation and purpo.ses." 



Among other articles to enclose ice, chaff has 

 been recommend.' d, and is said to be used for 

 that purpose in Italy. The last edition of Wil- 

 lich's Domestic Encyclopaedia gives the follow- 

 ing ilireciions lor making 



" A Fortabk he House. — A well-framed wood- 

 en box 6 feet by 3 feet. Another wooden box, 

 2 inches longer every way. Put the smaller 

 into the larger, surrounded by charcoal dust at 

 the bottom and on the sides ; a cover to fit close ; 

 a hole at one corner to let out any water of melt- 

 ed ice ; with a cork or plug. At the first frost 

 put in two inches of water; add toil during the 

 winter, till it be iVozen solid — cover it — throw 

 a tdanket over the top — and put it under a shed 

 so as to be screened from the sun." 



In putting down ice, if the weather be very 

 cold (as it ought to be for that business) it may 

 be well to pour on cold water from a watering 

 pot, as fast as it will freeze, so as to render the 

 whole one solid comjiact mass. It is important 

 that the ice house should have a dry situation, 

 as moist air will waste the ice as fast as hot air 



a drain. This may be conveniently made when ;' 



the declivity is considerable. Its mouth should! The moi>;Iure from above drips down upon the 



be narrow and small, and it has been recom- lower layers, and as the water is warmer than 



mended that a spout be inserted, descending to the ice, the work of decay goes on increasing, 

 its extremity, where it should be somewhat ' and disappoints the hojres ol the owner. The 



Encouragemcfii nf JigricuUurt m jV. Carolina. 

 The North Carolina State Gazette of the 11th 

 Inst, informs that the Legislature of that state 

 has continued in force certain parts of the act 

 for t'le Promotion of Agriculture and Domestic 

 Manufactures, with a provision that such coun- 

 ties as have not yet formed Agricultural Socie- 

 ties may yet have an opportunity of doing so, 

 and entitle themselves to the bounty of the Leg- 

 i>lature. It likewise states that complete sets of 

 that valuable agricultural work, the American 

 Farmer, published at Baltimore, by Mr Skinner, 

 are to be furnished to Societies at the expense of 

 the State, — together with a large and a small 

 plough of some approved consliuction, as spe- 

 cimens, — some seed wheat of the choicest 

 quality, — and a quantity of such grass seeds as 

 are best calculated for cultivation in the Southern 

 States. 



It is hoped and anticipated, that the New- 

 England Slates will not sutler their Southern 

 brethren to surpass them in liberality and exer- 

 tions to promote the interests of Agriculture.-^ 

 The old adage that '■'■ knowledge is jwu<cr'' ap- 

 [ plies, perhaps, with more force and propriety to 

 agriculture than to any other human pursuit;- 



