THE GENESEE FARMER. 889 (] ^ 



average of upwards of 35,000 in each county, of which there are nearly 86,000 in the 

 county of Jeflerson ; 85,464 in the county of Oneida ; nearly 78,000 in the county of 

 St. Lawrence ; 66,885 in the county of Chautauque ; 63,745 in the county of Chenango ; 

 62,555 in the county of Delaware; 61,706 in the county of Otsego; 69,712 in the 

 county of Orange ; 57,506 in the county of Erie ; 55,482 in the county of Steuben ; 

 53,440 in the county of Herkimer ; nearly 52,000 in the county of Allegany ; 49,498 

 in the county of Onondaga ; 47,258 in the county of Dutchess ; 45,256 in the county 

 of Cattaraugus ; 45,216 in the county of Madison ; 43,527 in the county of Washing- 

 ton ; 41,584 in the county of Cayuga ; and 41,300 in the county of Oswego. The 

 number of neat cattle under one year old is 334,456, and the number over one year old 

 is 1,709,479. The aggregate number of neat cattle is less by about 130,000 than in 1840. 



ICE HOUSES. 



We can not find the article on ice houses to which our correspondent, Mr. H. T. Wake- 

 field, refers. A box ten feet square on the ground, and ten or fifteen feet high, as he 

 suggests, would form storage room large enough for ice for a common family. A house 

 for keeping ice the year round, should be protected from the natural warmth of the 

 earth under the building, as well as from that of the atmosphere at its sides and roof. 

 Dry spent tan bark, or dry clean straw, may be used as a non-conductor of heat, to fill 

 in between the inner and outer boards of the walls of the ice room. In Georgia, good 

 ice houses are made altogether above the earth; and as it radiates more heat than is 

 commonly supposed, care should be taken to have a good non-conductor under the ice. 

 Pounded charcoal is perhaps the best, although tan and straw are used. Mr. W. appears 

 in doubt about the form and make of the roof. There is an excellent ice house in this 

 city which has a flat roof (double, of course,) and fire proof. Were we about to con- 

 struct an ice house on a farm, we should first provide suitable drains to carry oft' the water 

 from any ice that may melt and run through the floor Then a frame of three by four 

 scantling, ten or twelve feet high, should be erected, with rafters for a common double 

 roof. This frame should be boarded with common boards (or plank, as they are called 

 in half the States,) on the inside, rafters included. Outside of this building, another 

 frame of the same materials should be erected to cover it entirely, leaving a foot space 

 all round and over the rafters to be filled in with dry straw. The boards on the outside 

 frame had better be jointed and matched ; and if planed and painted white, it would bo 

 an improvement. The scantling standing a foot distant from each other in the clear, 

 and being four inches in thickness, from the covering on the outside to the lining 

 on the inside would give a space between of twenty inches to be filled with clean 

 straw. Properly put in, experience has shown this to form a cheap and nearly perfect 

 non-conductor of heat. The inner door should be double, and listed, to keep warm sum- 

 mer air out. If filled with chaff or charcoal dust, so much the better. The outer 

 door may be single, but should be tight. As the ice melts in spring a little all round 

 next to the walls of the building, straw must be rammed into the space between the 

 boards and ice, which will give it a covering of straw, and prevent further loss. Where 

 lumber is not high, a good ice house may be constructed at a small cost ; while for dairy 

 purposes, keeping fr&sh meats, strawberries, fresh peaches, grapes, and other fruits, it can 

 be made profitable, as well as the source of many luxuries. At the South, ice houses are 

 set up on posts, like corn cribs, having a double floor, with some non-conductor of heat 

 between the boards. At the North, they generally stand flat upon the ground, having 

 only gravel or sand under the floor for the drainage of water, while the ige is packed 

 K away on a good layer of straw. 



