48 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Jmly 19, 1864, 



to sinking the well wholly below the ground. In soils 

 retentive of moisture care should be taken to prevent the 

 outside moisture penetrating through the walls, by building 

 them in cement, ramming clay round the wall, with tar 

 next the wall, or raising them partly, or nearly wholly, 

 out of the ground. It is quite a mistake to suppose that 

 to keep ice well you have merely to get it into a hole 

 beneath the surface of the ground. On an average the 

 earth will be warmer all the year round at the depth of the 

 bottom of the well than at the surface. All moisture getting 

 to the wall would melt the ice ; the moisture that would 

 ooze out from a wall above the ground would actually cool 

 the interior by evaporation. 



I have not had any ice-houses entirely above ground 

 under my own charge ; but I have noticed how well the ice 

 kept in several, though, as far as I recollect, half as large 

 again as the size mentioned above. I remember one house 

 above ground that was built with double brick walls, the 

 walls being separated 12 inches from each other, with a 

 door in each wall opposite each other, about 5 feet from the 

 ground level. The top of the house, steep and cone-shaped, 

 was thatched to the thickness of 18 inches, and extended 

 beyond the walls for a couple of feet. The outside thatch got 

 covered with mosses and lichens, and there was a dense 

 shade of trees over all. A temporary staircase led up to 

 the doorway, and a stone staircase inside led to the bottom of 

 the house. The ice was pitched in from the carts, and broken 

 inside, and it kept remarkably well. The great secrets in 

 this case were the double walls and the enclosed space for 

 air between them. Of all non-conductors of heat, enclosed 

 isolated air is the best. Neither what we call heat, nor 

 what we call cold, has the power, to any great degree, to 

 pass through it. I recollect once noticing in the end of 

 June the thermometer in the shade, against the outer wall 

 of such a house, indicating 77 p , and another thermometer 

 on the wall inside the ice-well ranging from 32° to 34°, 

 but we shut the doors behind us. 



In sunk wells this double wall is just of equal importance. 

 The outer one prevents the heat of the soil affecting the 

 ice. I met with a nice example of this some time ago. 

 An old-fashioned ice-well had been so built, and answered 

 remarkably well. In course of time three or four ice-tubs 

 had to be supplied at the mansion instead of one — every- 

 thing in summer had to be cooled with ice — and the supply, 

 from the house being opened so often, was not equal to 

 the demand. The supposed genius of the establishment 

 counselled the removal of the inner wall, which would at 

 once make the house about 3 feet wider from top to bottom, 

 and set at liberty so many thousand bricks for other pur- 

 poses. What could seem more feasable ? and accordingly it 

 was done, and the house well filled the next winter ; but the 

 enlarged house was emptied fully six weeks earlier than it 

 used to be before. Since then the waggon-loads of straw 

 packed against the walls inside, and the trouble, would soon 

 cost more than the double wall, and, after all, with far 

 inferior results. Pew things are better non-conductors than 

 straw, especially if not much bruised by the flail or thresh- 

 ing-machine, as every space between the joints is, so far, a 

 sealed-up air-tube ; but let that straw get thoroughly soaked 

 inside a house, and its non-conducting powers would not 

 only be gone, but the vapour always rising from it would keep 

 a damp fog always resting upon and melting away the ice. 

 I have no faith, therefore,™ straw as a non-conductor inside a 

 house unless it be kept dry. I have a large house which, when 

 filled, generally secures pretty well a two-years supply ; 

 that, too, had been built, I believe, with hollow walls, and 

 the inner one was removed, before I knew it, to increase the 

 size ; but I soon gave up using packings of straw, having 

 come to the conclusion that, on the whole, from getting 

 damp it did more harm than good. When either a stone, 

 brick, or wood house is raised partly or wholly above the 

 ground level, covering the single wall, whatever it is, with 

 from 6 to 9 inches of straw neatly fastened on the outside, 

 and with the eaves of the roof projecting far enough to keep 

 that straw dry, will be the best substitute for a double wall ; 

 and if the ears of wheat are removed, so as not to entice 

 birds or mice, the straw will last a number of years. 



Thus by using hollow walls, or a non-conducting medium, 

 it will be seen that regular ice-houses may be as well, 

 partly or wholly, above ground as below it; and in the 



circumstances of soils retentive of moisture, much better 

 above than below. When so built, and near the mansion, 

 they could be turned to many useful purposes, as respects 

 keeping meat and vegetables, with more economy as to ice, 

 than when the ice has to be brought in pails and barrow- 

 loads to the house. 



So much for the place : now for the filling. The chief 

 thing is to get ice from good clear water, and pound it well 

 outside, but chiefly inside, of the house. If the water is not 

 clean the ice will be unfit for preserving many things where 

 fine flavour is an extra consideration. Every space of air 

 enclosed between pieces of ice will hasten the decay of the 

 ice whenever these spaces can gain access to the air above 

 them. When filling in frosty weather it is a good plan to 

 use a little water for filling up the crevices, which soon 

 freezes the whole into a compact mass. All ice with leaves 

 and pieces of wood in it is to be rejected if better can be 

 had, as they will make a sort of free space round themselves 

 long before the summer is passed. In packing it is advisable 

 to keep the centre the lowest, and the outsides the highest, 

 so that the moisture contained may find its way to the 

 centre and there be frozen, instead of passing through the 

 ice at the outside and escaping. This same rule should also 

 be attended to in taking the ice out of the ice-house. It is 

 impossible to break the ice too fine — the more like sleet and 

 snow the better, and the firmer packed the better. This is 

 even more necessary when the house for keeping it is small. 



As to keeping ice when obtained, the great object is to 

 prevent it being surrounded with a moist stagnant atmo- 

 sphere. A dry air, though warm, will exert much less influ- 

 ence in melting the ice than a damp air though cold. Two 

 facts tended to alter my views on ice-keeping. Eirst : So 

 long as the ice was above the doorway, or even somewhat 

 above the ground level, it kept very well indeed : because, I 

 imagine, there was so much less moist air in the house, or 

 air of any kind, and until it sunk somewhat lower it came 

 less under the influence of the increasing heat of the 

 summer acting on the ground surrounding the ice. The 

 second fact was, that in opening such a house in summer, 

 after the ice had sunk considerably, a stream of ioggy air 

 issued from the door like the vapour from a wash-house 

 copper. I used to be anxious not to have the doors open 

 a moment more than was necessary ; but I found that the 

 dry hot air of a summer's day melted the ice less than this 

 moist air hanging about it. The dry warm air, however, 

 did melt the ice when playing at once upon it. A dry 

 non-conducting medium over the ice, was, therefore, seen to 

 be important, and likewise some simple mode of getting 

 rid of the moist air. Both can easily be managed in unison 

 with increased usefulness from the ice-house ; as, without 

 such precautions, meat and vegetables, though placed there, 

 will be kept there at the expense of flavour. These evils 

 will be remedied by keeping the air over the ice dry and in 

 movement. Have a hole in the door from 2 to 3 inches in 

 diameter guarded with fine wire, and a plug to regulate the 

 draught, and have another of a similar size in the roof, regu- 

 lated in the same way, and then fog can hardly accumulate. 

 Spread a clean cloth over the surface of the ice, split up the 

 middle, so as to be moved easily to either side when you 

 wish to place articles on the ice, and cover the cloth with 

 6 or 8 inches of clean straw, to be changed when it shows 

 the least signs of mouldiness. The air thus admitted clears 

 off the vapour, and does not act on the ice, owing to the 

 straw on the surface — the only place Where, as already 

 remarked, I consider straw to be useful in a regular ice- 

 house. In practice, I may here state, that I never satisfied 

 myself that salt or salt water was beneficial for keeping ice 

 in ice-houses or not. Sometimes I thought it did service, 

 sometimes the reverse. The science of the matter is some- 

 what conflicting. Where very low temperatures are wanted, 

 of course salt will be used with ice, and especially with 

 snow, but in such cases it must be used with caution, or 

 there may be too much freezing. 



Houses for ice, however, whether below or above ground, 

 and of whatever they may be built, are chiefly used for pie- 

 serving various matters in them, and for such purposes 

 should be near the mansion. When ice is merely wanted 

 to be taken to the mansion it may be preserved in ice-heaps 

 just as well as in an ice-house, and in some respects even 

 better. The principles of action are the same, but the carry- 



