ICE-HOUSES. 



497 



during winter, the season when its ad- 

 vantages are most required. 



Again, extreme cold is equally to be 

 guarded against; for although apples and 

 pears have been known to have kept long 

 after being frozen quite hard, their flavour 

 has in consequence been completely de- 

 stroyed. This was exemplified a few years 

 ago in the case of the specimens of the 

 famous Boston nectarine, sent from the 

 United States to London packed in ice. 

 They arrived in apparently excellent con- 

 dition, and, so far as plumpness and colour 

 were concerned, they appeared as if fresh 

 gathered from the trees ; but, as regards 

 flavour, they were found to be perfectly 

 worthless. 



It is difficult to lay down a rule as to 

 the temperature at which a fruit-room 

 should be kept ; but somewhere between 

 40° and 50° may be taken as the extremes 

 of heat and cold. 



Darkness, as we have elsewhere re- 

 marked, is also considered by Mr Thomp- 

 son as an essential in keeping fruit, be- 

 cause light accelerates its maturity, and 

 consequently its ultimate decay. There- 

 fore the darker the fruit-room is kept, 

 even when air is admitted, the better ; 

 and this is effected in Mr Moorman's 

 fruit-room by the blinds over the windows. 



For the general management of the 

 fruit-room, vide vol. ii. 



§ 3. — ICE-HOUSES. 



The history of ice, as applied medi- 

 cinally, or for domestic purposes, although 

 somewhat vague, may still be traced to a 

 very remote period amongst civilised 

 nations. The first notice of it used as a 

 luxury and a medicine is that in the 51st 

 aphorism of the second section of Hippo- 

 crates, or about 460 years B.C. ; and so 

 much was it then used that that learned 

 physician, after detailing a long catalogue 

 of ills attending its immoderate use, 

 concludes by saying — " But for all this, 

 people will not take warning ; and most 

 men would rather run the hazard of their 

 lives or health than be deprived of the 

 pleasure of drinking out of ice." In the 

 history of one of the Ptolemies we find an 

 account given of an entertainment to his 

 nobles, served in double vessels lined with 

 ice; and the Romans, during the Empire, 



VOL. I. 



regarded ice and snow as essential both 

 to luxury and health — as may be drawn 

 from the expression Nivatce potiones, 

 which shows that cool drinks were in 

 much esteem. Some of the practices still 

 recommended for preserving ice are of 

 very ancient date, — one of which is, pour- 

 ing boiling water on the ice while in pro- 

 gress of packing in the ice well. This 

 has, no doubt, the effect of expelling the 

 air from the water, and causing it much 

 sooner to congeal. Mixing common salt 

 or saltpetre with ice or snow was well 

 known to Lord Bacon as increasing the 

 amount of cold. Even common salt, 

 mixed with ice or snow, will reduce the tem- 

 perature to 0° of Fahrenheit; "and this at 

 one time," says Masters in his " Ice Book," 

 " was imagined to be the utmost intensity 

 of cold that could be produced. But," 

 says the same authority, "by similar ad- 

 mixtures of salts in various proportions 

 and diluted acids, a much greater reduc- 

 tion of temperature can be produced." 



Till of late years little improvement 

 has been made in buildings for the storing 

 of ice, or in the means of preserving it. 

 Recent discoveries almost lead us to con- 

 clude that ice and snow can be preserved 

 throughout the year without their aid 

 altogether. 



Some very interesting information on 

 the subject of keeping ice will be found 

 in the " Supplement to the Encyclo- 

 paedia Britannica," (art. Horticulture,) 

 " Pharmaceutical Times," " Prospectus of 

 the Wenham Lake Ice Company," " The 

 Ice Book," by Masters, " Nouveau Cours 

 d' Agriculture," (art. Glazier,) Rozier's 

 " Diet of Agriculture," and the " Prospec- 

 tus of the Rockland Lake Ice Company." 

 From the latter of these the following ex- 

 tract is taken, to show the importance of 

 ice as an article of commerce, and also as 

 an estimate of its value in different States : 

 " There are in Boston, United States, six- 

 teen companies engaged in transporting 

 thousands of tons of this arctic crystal 

 ice to the East and West Indies, to South 

 America, and even to this country. In 

 1830 the quantity of ice shipped from 

 Boston to distant parts amounted to 

 50,000 tons ; from Charlestown it was equal 

 to 30,000." The following may be of 

 practical utility in guiding to the selec- 

 tion of ice in this country : " Ice frozen 

 upon very deep water is much more com- 



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