'■VZ AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 



rammed moderately, but so as to make it solid. Each layer 

 should be cai-ried entirely around tbe frame before ramming, 

 care being taken to ram evenly, that the pressure on the frame 

 may be kept equal ; and the whole work should lie done as rap- 

 idly as possible, mixing the mortar in small quantities as want- 

 ed, that the settling and drying may be uniform. In the 

 cijm-se of ten days remove the frame-work, plaster the whole 

 thoroughly with cement mortar, made with one third sand and 

 two thirds cement, and finish the whole by putting on the top. 

 Should leaks occm- subsequently, they may be stopped by a 

 coat of thin cement, laid on with a whitewash-brush. 



ICE-HOUSE. 



An ice-house for family supply may be made of the same 

 size and in the same manner as a cistern, having a draining- 

 floor formed of rough joists or plank, under or between whicli 

 a few inches open space is left at the bottom when the ice is 

 put in, with a waste-pipe leadi]ig from it, having a plug by 

 which it may be closed at its outer end. Or it may be built 

 in a di-y soil as a small cellar, with the above provision for 

 drainage, and be closely covered by setting a roof or building 

 over it. Or it may, if preferred, be built entirely above ground, 

 with double siding of boards or slabs, the space beti^'een being 

 packed as directed for green-house, which see. 



It should be substantially braced, and provideil with an in- 

 ner and outer door ; the space between these, together with the 

 whole roof or floor covering it, in whatever manner it is built, 

 should also be packed as directed for the sides. The draining- 

 floor being first thickly covered with straw, the ice may be set 

 in snugly in blocks, the spaces between them being filled with 

 the fragments rammed solidly in ; or, if thin ice is used, the 

 whole may be liroken up and rammed, water being added from 

 time to time to fill the crevices hy its freezing ; the mass must 

 be kept a little raised in the middle as the filling progi'esses, 

 and the sides should be lined with straw set upright. , When 

 it is completed, the whole must be thickly covered with the 

 same, or with sawdust, or salt hay, and kept secm-ely closed 

 until the ice is wanted. Kot less than from forty to fifty 



