ICE-HOUSES. 



499 



fire hurled along these slippery surfaces 

 as if they were without weight. Beside 

 this platform stands a sledge of the same 

 height, capable of containing about 3 tons, 

 which, when laden, is drawn upon the ice 

 to the front of the storehouse, where a 

 large stationary platform of exactly the 

 same height is ready to receive its load, 

 which, as soon as discharged, is hoisted, 

 block by block, into the house by horse 

 power. This process of hoisting is so 

 judiciously managed that both the taking 

 up of the ice and the throwing it into the 

 building are performed solely by the 

 horse. The frame which receives the 

 block of ice to be hoisted is sunk into a 

 square opening cut in the stationary plat- 

 form, the block of ice is pushed on to it, 

 the horse starts, and the frame rises with 

 the ice until it reaches the opening in the 

 side of the storehouse ready for its recep- 

 tion, when, by an ingenious piece of 

 mechanism, it discharges itself into the 

 building, and the horse is led back to 

 repeat the process. 



When a thaw or fall of rain occurs, it 

 entirely unfits the ice for market, by ren- 

 dering it opaque and porous ; and occa- 

 sionally snow is immediately followed by 

 rain, and that again by frost, forming 

 snow-ice, which is valueless, and must be 

 removed by the ice-plane, fig. 714. The 



operation of planing is somewhat similar 

 to that of cutting. A plane, made to run 

 in the grooves made by the marker, which 

 shaves the ice to the depth of 3 inches, is 

 drawn by a horse until the whole surface 

 of the ice is planed. The chips thus pro- 

 duced are then scraped off, and if the 

 clear ice is not reached the process is re- 

 peated. If this makes the ice too thin 

 for cutting, it is left in statu quo, and a 

 few nights of hard frost will add below as 

 much as was taken from above. 



The various applications of ice, as well 

 as the best modes of keeping it, have never 

 been fully appreciated orunderstood in this 

 country. The very careless mode of col- 

 lecting it from stagnant pools and filthy 



ditches is a convincing proof of the state- 

 ment just made. Its extreme impurity 

 renders it unfit for any other purpose save 

 that of merely cooling wine or other viands 

 enclosed in bottles or well-covered dishes. 

 The very circumstance of laying fish, 

 game, pastry, fruit, &c, upon pounded 

 ice, as we in general have it in the ice- 

 bins or refrigerators in use in every 

 gentleman's house, is little short of dis- 

 gusting. Nor can we enjoy those cooling 

 draughts so much prized by the French, 

 Italians, and Americans, obtained from 

 melted ice, or pieces of it thrown into 

 their water decanters; or have fresh butter 

 eatable in the dog-days comparable to 

 what it would be if served up in iced 

 water, and surrounded by pieces of the 

 same pellucid material. The perfect purity 

 of the American ice fits it for table use ; 

 and, accordingly, it is the constant prac- 

 tice in America to mix it with water or milk 

 for drinking, to dilute wines and spirits 

 with it, and to place it on the table in 

 direct contact with butter and jellies. 



From these facts, briefly quoted from 

 American practice, we learn, first, That 

 ice, to be valuable, ought to be pure, and 

 that pure ice cannot be obtained but from 

 clear and wholesome water; secondly, 

 That ice should be transparent, unmixed 

 with snow, and still more with decay- 

 ing vegetable and often animal matter ; 

 thirdly, That it should be thick, and, in- 

 stead of being pounded to almost a powder, 

 should be stored by in pieces 21 inches 

 square, or thereby, and, if it can be pro- 

 cured, 1 2 inches thick. But as we seldom 

 in Britain have it so thick, we calculate 

 that, if it be half that thickness, which it 

 often is, it will answer every purpose 

 completely ; or if we extend the surface 

 area to make up for the difference in thick- 

 ness, it may be found to keep nearly as 

 well, although we are quite aware that a 

 cube or sphere of ice will keep longer than 

 the same amount spread over any figure 

 presenting a greater surface. Ice in its 

 natural state must be more solid than 

 when broken up even to powder, and 

 packed as tightly as man can do it, and 

 consequently must be less liable to the 

 melting process. And here the question 

 arises, Would it not be better to pack our 

 ice in as large pieces as we can, and fill up 

 the spaces between these with pounded 

 ice prepared on purpose ? Fourthly, The 



