500 



MISCELLANEOUS GARDEN STRUCTURES. 



Americans use no salt — nor should we do 

 so. They store their ice in wooden build- 

 ings on the surface, and thus save the 

 expense of costly wells, excavated to a 

 great depth. For covering they use saw- 

 dust, straw, and charcoal, the best of all 

 non-conductors of heat. Their houses 

 being upon the surface, damp cannot in- 

 jure them. Fifthly, snow, being produced 

 at a much higher temperature than ice, 

 does not keep so well ; and ice being in 

 the best state for packing when quite dry, 

 applying water to it must be injurious. 

 Finally, considerable allowance must be 

 made for climate, we having never such 

 depressions of temperature in Britain as 

 the Americans have. We have, however, 

 plenty of ice from 6 to 8 inches in thick- 

 ness — sometimes more — in most sea- 

 sons, and in many situations, particularly 

 on lakes in districts high above the sea. 

 Why, therefore, should not proprietors 

 having such lakes form ice-stores on their 

 margin, and procure a supply of pure and 

 clean ice for their own use, and even for 

 the supply of the London, Liverpool, Man- 

 chester, and other markets? Railroads 

 intersect the very districts to which we 

 allude, or will ultimately do so, within 

 short distances of beautiful and pellucid 

 lakes. Artificial ones could easily be 

 formed by throwing embankments across 

 valleys, the ends of which might in many 

 cases be within a few yards of a railway 

 line. As much ice could be taken from 

 the lake near Carnwath, within 20 or 30 

 feet of the Caledonian Railway, as would 

 supply London and Edinburgh, or all the 

 intermediate towns, abundantly, and af- 

 ford employment to the poor at the most 

 needful season, as well as yield a handsome 

 return to the proprietor. 



Whether any enterprising individual or 

 company will attempt such a scheme, we 

 know not ; this we must however admit, 

 that the Americans have shown us the ex- 

 ample, and have not only converted a 

 material, with which our country also 

 abounds, into money, but have reduced 

 the traffic in ice to such a system or order 

 as to render it an article of very consider- 

 able commercial importance. A pond or 

 lake of 2 acres extent, at 1 foot thick of 

 ice, will yield 2000 tons, which, at Id. per 

 lb., would give £9, 6s. 8d. per ton, or 

 £18,666, 13s. 4d. for 2 acres. 



The annexed plan, fig. 715, is very per- 



fect of its kind, on the principle upon 

 which ice-houses have hitherto been built. 



Fig. 715. 



It will be understood by the following 

 description : Three-fourths of the building 

 is under the ground-level, the remainder 

 being covered with soil, and rendered per- 

 fectly waterproof over the top. The situ- 

 ation is on the side of a hill or sloping 

 ground, perfectly dry, and, if possible, 

 facing the north. The principal advan- 

 tage in choosing sloping ground is, that 

 the drain /, for taking away the waste or 

 melted ice, may be more conveniently 

 constructed. This drain should termi- 

 nate in a pond or river, so that the end of 

 it may be under water, to prevent the 

 entrance of air. Still further to effect this 

 end, air-traps should be introduced as at 

 g, and more than one is requisite if it be a 

 built drain ; if a pipe, one or two swan- 

 necked bends will answer equally well. 

 Under the bottom of the ice-chamber 

 should be a well or cistern e, into which 

 the melted ice may drain through a grat- 

 ing, or plate of iron perforated with 

 holes, d. The side walls are to be carried 

 up in 2-feet work, if of rubble stone, or 

 14-inch work, if of brick, puddling a space 

 of not less than 2 feet in width between 

 the back of the wall and the sides of the 

 excavation. This puddling is to be car- 

 ried up along with the building; and after 

 the roof is domed over, the puddle should 

 be increased to 3 feet, the more effectually 

 to keep out the wet. The space between 

 the wall and dotted line shows the puddle. 

 It is probable that a stratum of stones, 

 laid loosely in, should intervene between 

 the puddle and the wall of the house, as 

 a means of keeping the walls dry, and 

 also cutting off, to a certain extent, the 

 conduction of heat from the earth to the 

 wall. A still more efficacious way of 

 securing this would be to introduce a 



