Book III. 



ICE-HOUSE. 



as such where the water is conducted along a level or declining bed ; whereas by metal or wooden pii>es, 

 water may pass alternately over hollows and eminences, the latter not being higher than the source, 

 without loss in the ground through which it passes. 



1718. Reservoirs may be either tanks, cisterns, basins, or ponds. Tanks and cisterns 

 are sometimes old barrels well tarred or painted, and then sunk in the soil ; occasionally 

 they are framed boxes of timber, the joints filled with oxide of lead and oil, and the 

 whole pitched over, and then placed where they are to remain either above or on a level 

 with the surface. 



1719. Ponds or large basins (fg. 286.) are reservoirs formed in excavations, either in 

 soils retentive of water, or rendered so by the use of clay. This clay is tempered, or 

 made compact and tenacious, by working it so as to exclude the larger globules of air 

 and water, and intimately unite all its parts with as much moisture as leaves it plastic. 

 The bottom and sloping sides of the excavation, being smoothed and made firm, this 

 tempered clay or puddle is to be spread evenly over it, from margin to margin, about 

 a foot thick, and well compacted by beating. To preserve it from injury by the 

 pressure of feet, or other accidents, it should be covered with gravel, in thickness 

 according to the supposed liability to accidents. If cattle are to enter it, eighteen 

 inches of coarse gravel, or stones covered with six inches of fine gravel, will not be 

 too much. Sometimes these basins are lined with pavement, tiles, or even lead, and 

 the last material is the best, where complete dryness is an object around the margin. 



286 



287 



288 



1720. Tanks or cisterns (Jig. 287.) are generally excavations in the earth, lined with 

 masonry, and sometimes raised two or three feet above it. This masonry is always 

 built with mortar which sets or hardens under water, as the Dorking and other sorts 

 of lime, gypsum, and any lime mixed with oxide of iron, in the form of what is called 

 Roman cement, or Puzzolana earth. (Davys Elements of Agr. Chem. lect. vii.) To 

 protect this, the bottom of the cistern or basin is sometimes covered with six or eight 

 inches of clay. Sometimes the bottom of the excavation for a pond or tank, is naturally 

 a retentive clay, while the sides are of porous earth. In this case, the simplest way is to 

 raise a wall, or vertical stratum of puddle (Jig. 288.), from the horizontal stratum of clay, 

 to within a few inches of the surface of the ground. 



1721. Water for culinai-y purjwscs should be preserved in tanks, or in barrels interiorly charred, sunk 

 deep in the ground, and rendered inaccessible to surface water. Tanks should be arched over with ma- 

 sonry, leaving, as ought always to be done in wells, a hole for the pump, sufficiently large to admit a man 

 to clean or repair. A similar construction is proper for reservoirs of liquid manures, but they need not 

 be so deep, as coolness in them is less sought for. {Ratcliff''s Agr. of Fland, 1819.) All reservoirs for pure 

 water, to be used in gardening, ought to be exposed to the sun and air. 



Sect. II. Anomalous Buildings. 



1722. Collecting and preserving ice, rearing bees, &c. however unsuitable or dis- 

 cordant it may appear, it has long been the custom to delegate to the care of .the 

 gardener. In some cases also he has the care of the dove-house, fish-ponds, aviary, a 

 menagerie of wild beasts, and places for snails, frogs, dormice, rabbits, &c. but we shall 

 only consider the ice-house, apiary, and aviary, as legitimately belonging to gardening, 

 leaving the others to the care of the gamekeeper, or to constitute a particular depart- 

 ment in domestic or rural economy. That the subject of anomalous buildings may not 

 occur again, we shall here conclude it by treating also of their management. 



Subsect. 1. Oftlie Ice-hotise and its Management. 



1723. The ice-house. Ice is kept on the continent in cellars, at a greater or less 

 depth from the surface according to the climate. These cellars are without windows, 

 surrounded by very thick walls, and entered by double and treble doors, sometimes 

 placed in angular or circuitous passages, and always with intervals of several feet between 

 them. Sometimes precautions are taken to carry off any water which may arise from a 

 partial thaw, by forming gutters across the floor, and covering it with a grating of strong 

 lattice- work, leading to a cess-pool in the passage, whence the water can be taken out by 

 utensils without opening the inner door ; but very frequently full confidence is had in 

 the coolness of fhe situation, especially if the surrounding soil be dry. Wliere the sur- 

 rounding soil is moist, a frame-work or cage of carpentry, grated at bottom, is con- 

 structed in the cellar, so as to be from one to two feet apart from the floor, sides, and 

 roof, and in this the ice is as perfectly preserved as in a dry soil. (Cours, &c. ; Bordleys 

 Essays and Notes on Husbandry, Philadelphia, 1780.) Ice is kept in the cellars of con- 



Z 2 



