October 26, 1871. J 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 



317 



like in temperature, and rapidly falls to extreme cold as we 

 descend, a natural result of which the northern races have long 

 been cognisant, for in most cities there are "Tytchanas" or 

 subterranean rooms, with stone bencbee, and even fountains 

 therein, which are favourite retreats of the rich and idle daring 

 the excessive heat of the outer air. Perhaps in the very humid 

 climate of Great Britain this oriental system of preserving the 

 ice may not succeed, though it might be modified accordingly. 

 A A, external walls about 5 feet high and 2 feet thick, of sun- 

 dried clay brick. B B, internal walls of the same height, but 

 only li foot thick, of the same stuff. Both the above walls are 

 •oireular, and when dry should be well plastered with any water- 

 proof compo, to protect them in bad weather ; I suggest bast 

 •mats as the best ones in England. Doors to enter each circu- 

 lar erection must be made, taking care that they are not oppo- 

 site, so as to avoid direct entrance of the outer air. A, outer 

 thatch, thick, and of reeds or rushes well packed. B, inner 

 thatch of less thickness. C, porch built on to outer door, and 

 having a closely-fitting door as first entrance. When taking 

 out ice (always before sunrise) a person entering this outer 

 ■door will shut it after him tightly, then enter the outer circular 

 wall by its own door, fastening which he will open the inner 

 door of central compartment ; closing that also, he will then 

 take ofi a thick felt cover from the mouth of the pit, and carry 

 away the required ice in a double basket, covered with felt in 

 -each compartment, the blocks being separated by a stock of 

 -oold sawdust, stored between the walls. Beware of strong- 

 scented woods when collecting the dust, as they will flavour 



your ice. The well or pit must be in a dry, gravelly, or 

 sandy, slightly-elevated situation, with a porous subsoil to the 

 very bottom. The depth will depend on the quantity to be 

 stored for the season; there is no advantage in a surplus. 

 This pit is to be lined throughout with wicker-work (or mat- 

 ting in India) and spread with felt sheeting as thick as you can 

 ■aiiord, as the best non-conductor in a large scale, E F. G G, the 

 drainage chamber, which should be by choice in the most 

 porous soil or stratum attainable, its object being, when fiUed 

 with small charcoal, to act as a colander or strainer for the 

 drippings of melted ice to pass away into the earth, without 

 creating humidity, a state so destructive to all congelation and 

 its preservation. The little entrance portico I should construct 

 of Croggon's patent felt (being waterproof) nailed to a light 

 •framework of deal spars, well-pitched. The inner door should 

 liave a chain and padlock, and work so lightly on its hinges as 

 to close on a latch by its own impetus. 

 I will aow proceei to the construction of ice safes and small 



domestic receptacles for the daily supply. For the casual 

 consumer, the invalid, or the midsummer picnic, I know of no 

 plan so simple and effective as the following : — Have two good 

 clean white blankets by you, the stouter the better, lift the 

 lumps of ice, as large as you can get them, with a pair of wooden 

 tongs into one blanket, and wrap it up into as small and uni- 

 formly tight a bundle as you can manage ; put this in a light 

 basket and wrap up the latter again in your other blanket, and 

 keep in as dark and shady a spot as you can find. A bottle or 

 two of previously cooled beer or soda water may be enclosed 

 with your ice in the same blanket when packing. Every two 

 hours in hot weather change your blankets, and try to keep 

 your ice as dry as possible, therein consists the knack of pre- 

 servation. Sawdust of hard woods is most useful as an aux- 

 iliary. The blankets will be none the worse for being used, if 

 continually changed, as above. I tried a new discovery a few 

 years ago, and it will give a valuable hint to nurses and others 

 who have to economise their store of ice in a sick room or 

 hospital. Dr. Sohwarz published the fact that soft bird-feathers 

 are the most effective of all non-conductors : he kept ice in a 

 jug covered by a plate, some 6 lbs. weight, for eight days in an 

 invalid's room during summer. 



For many years I used the following inexpensive ice-box, 

 constructed by my own hands, its principle taken from an 

 American recipe book. The work is laborious and also dirty, 

 unless feathers be used, which would cost something : — Get 

 an eighteen-gallon cask, clean and new, if possible ; get a 

 smaller, of four gallons, or rather larger, according to your 



probable requirements. On this scale I stored Wenham ice for 

 forty-eight hours, S lbs. weight, after it reached me nearly two 

 hundred miles by rail and boat, being in a joint club with 

 others, and the total cargo being about 200 or 300 lbs. on every 

 trip. We had to subscribe a small fund to purchase cases and 

 country blankets, and advances to the American company ia 

 Calcutta. The blocks on arrival were all cut up and weighed 

 out in allotments to the several subscribers. My share rarely 

 exceeded £2 sterling per mensem, with a small dividend to 

 receive when the cool season came round. The per-centage of 

 loss by waste in transit was usually quite insignificant, unless 

 detained by occasional mishaps. 



The larger cask must be partially unhooped to admit the 

 lesser, and a large quantity of clean and fresh charcoal dust 

 must be previously collected. First a hole must be bored in 

 the bottom for the outlet of drainage pipe, and then the cask 

 fitted to stand on a strong frame on four feet, sufficiently high 

 to contain the bend of the siphon when inserted into the 

 pipe ; both may be of lead tubing a quarter of an inch. Insert 

 the length of pipe upright in the hole of large cask, and begin 

 ramming well with a long heavy cylinder of wood close up to 

 and around the pipe, till about an- inch or two only remain 

 above ; you then put inside the smaller cask, which must have 

 a hole at bottom to hold the pipe end. This being duly adjusted 

 and quite straight, replace the top hoops of the large cask, and go 

 on with the charcoal dust till you arrive close to the mouth of the 

 small one, you will then put a curved piece of perforated zinc 



