ICE-HOUSES. 



501 



layer of charcoal 18 inches or 2 feet thick 

 instead of the stones. The best plan of 

 all would be to build the walls hollow, or 

 to build two walls with an interval be- 

 tween them, and to pack the space between 

 with some non-conducting material. The 

 only advantage of having ice-houses sunk 

 under the ground-surface is the facility 

 with which they can be filled from the top ; 

 but it is questionable if this convenience 

 is not more than balanced by the diffi- 

 culty of keeping such underground walls 

 dry — and upon this much of the keeping 

 properties of ice depends. The entrance 

 should be from the ground-level, and the 

 passage furnished with three doors, ah c, 

 fitted into the door-frames as closely as 

 possible, the better to exclude the air. 

 The innermost of these, c, need not be a 

 full-sized door, as shown in the figure ; and 

 instead of its opening by hinges in the ordi- 

 nary manner, it should consist of separate 

 oaken planks made to fit into a groove at 

 both sides, and so be lifted out and in 

 when the ice is being taken out. A bet- 

 ter construction for it still would be to 

 form it of two plates of iron made to run 

 on a small rail, and carried into a slit in 

 the wall at both sides, fitted with a cast- 

 iron frame to receive them — the iron 

 plates to be flanged at the ends, so that, 

 when shut, they may fit the frame so 

 closely as to exclude the air. It will be 

 seen also, from our figure, that it is filled 

 through the passage, a case often ren- 

 dered necessary from local circumstances, 

 and where the more speedy mode of filling 

 from the top may either be impossible or 

 inconvenient. We may here remark that 

 cast or wrought iron doors would be more 

 desirable than wood in such situations, 

 but they are more difficult to render air- 

 tight. 



In regard to size, every ice-house should 

 be made large, even for a small family ; 

 as, if all is properly done, ice may be 

 kept for two or three years. This is a 

 point of much consequence in parts where 

 ice is difficult to procure — as at Dalkeith, 

 for example, where, from the absence of 

 ponds and the mildness of the seasons, 

 and probably from the North and South 

 Esks being chiefly supplied by springs 

 and the drainage of the deep coal-mines 

 in the neighbourhood, they are seldom 

 so reduced in temperature as to form 

 into ice. Be this as it may, during the 



last ten years we have only had a full 

 supply of ice twice wherewith to fill our 

 ice-house, and in both cases very little 

 of it has been from the rivers. We have 

 therefore been constrained to use snow as 

 a substitute, and last year to import ice 

 from Norway. Mr Loudon has sadly 

 miscalculated as regards the dimensions 

 given in his " Encyclopaedia of Garden- 

 ing " regarding the size of ice-houses ; for 

 after stating the advantages of having a 

 two or three years' supply of ice laid in, 

 he says, " Where the quantity wanted is 

 not great, a well of 6 feet diameter and 

 8 feet deep will be large enough ; but for 

 a large consumption, it should not be 

 less than 9 or 10 feet diameter, and as 

 many deep." In the first instance, we do 

 not think such a well would afford a 

 bushel of ice in July ; and in the latter, it 

 would be exhausted by September, even 

 were very little taken out for use. The 

 larger the bulk, we have always found the 

 ice to keep in proportion longest. 



Figs. 716, 717, exhibit another example 

 of an ice-house somewhat different in 



Fig. 716. Fig. 717. 



construction from that just described. 

 The waste-water drain, with air-traps, 

 &c, as well as the cavity under for re- 

 ceiving the melted ice or snow, and the 

 puddling around the sides and over the 

 top, are all much the same as in the last 

 example. The difference in this case 

 consists in the ice being thrown in from 

 the top a ; and the passage, instead of 

 being straight, is zig-zag, as shown in the 

 ground-plan, fig. % 717 — all of which are 

 improvements. Although we have re- 

 commended that ice-houses should be 

 built air-tight, it does not follow that 

 ventilation is not of advantage at times, 

 as will be noticed hereafter. 



