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MISCELLANEOUS GARDEN STRUCTURES. 



in the ice by an endless canvass, as it is 

 both inconvenient and expensive. The 

 idea of placing the ice-house at the end 

 of a bowling-green, from whence the 

 supply of ice is to be procured by flood- 

 ing the latter upon the approach of frost, 

 is all very well, and perfectly practicable, 

 and invaluable in situations where ice is 

 difficult to be got; but to render the 

 bottom of the bowling-green so imper- 

 vious to water as to retain it till it 

 becomes frozen, must of necessity render 

 it at all other times very unfit for its 

 legitimate purpose — as bowling-greens, 

 like lawns, can hardly be made too dry. 

 Do away with the term bowling-green, 

 and substitute curling or skating pond, 

 and our objection is removed. Building 

 the walls hollow, and with brick, is excel- 

 lent, as well as that of keeping the house 

 nearly above the ground-level. Taking 

 this example as a whole, it is by far the 

 most complete house of the kind we have 

 ever seen drawings of. We do not sup- 

 pose, however, that it will keep ice better 

 than Cobbett's, already described, if both 

 were of an equal size. 



The following is a brief description, as 

 given by the inventor : — " a is the ice- 

 house, with a circular hole in the top for 

 filling ; b an endless canvass, revolving 

 on rollers, for conveying the ice from the 

 ground to the hole at the top ; c is one 

 end of the bowling-green ; d d two rooms ; 

 e entrance to fruit-rooms; / ice-house 

 door; g part of the circular mound 

 covering the whole. The bowling-green 

 is intended to be flooded by water from 

 a jet-d'eau or fountain, or otherwise, to 

 the depth of 2 feet, and thus made to 

 serve for a curling-pond, ice-house pond, 

 or skating-pond during winter, and a 

 bowling-green during summer. 



" The method of filling the house may 

 be as follows : — An opening is made in 

 the ice at the corner adjoining the stone 

 flooring h, and increased in a diagonal 

 line to the far corner on the opposite 

 side, in which forms may be placed for 

 the workmen to stand upon when break- 

 ing and spearing the ice along to the 

 corner. Two men stand at the corner 

 and drag the ice on the flooring; two 

 others with mallets break it into small 

 pieces, and two shovel it on to the 

 canvass," by which it is wound up to 

 the top, and thrown into the house. The 



rest is routine. " The door i being shut, 

 and a layer of reeds, wheat-straw, or 

 laths laid against it, to prevent the ice 

 adhering to it," the usual process of 

 packing and filling goes on. Strips of 

 lath are preferred to straw for placing 

 between the ice and the walls; and doors 

 nearly air-tight, by having their edges 

 covered with soft leather, are preferred 

 to filling the passages with straw, as is 

 usually done, both for economising 

 time in taking out the supply of ice, 

 and also for preventing the air from 

 getting in. 



" By means of air-tight doors," says the 

 inventor, " the person sent for a supply 

 of ice, after having opened the first door, 

 may shut himself and his pail in; the 

 second door may then be opened, and 

 should fold in the middle, so as to occupy 

 little space in opening ; the third door 

 may open outwards, and to the reverse 

 side of the second, and be shut on enter- 

 ing the house : by this means very little 

 air will be admitted on entering, and far 

 less on returning ; and every sort of litter 

 being done away with, there will be little 

 danger of carbonic acid gas accumulating 

 inside of the house. In the above plan 

 there may be a door at the foot of the 

 stairs, and two others on entering through 

 the wall. The inner walls of both ice- 

 house and fruit-room should be built 

 with brick, and bound to the outer walls 

 with long bricks or stones reaching 

 through the vacuity from the one wall 

 to the other. The fruit-room is lighted 

 from above by circular vents with glass 

 tops k, and wooden shutters I, which 

 may be opened and shut with cords and 

 pulleys : five of these vents may be 

 sufficient to light the passage of the 

 fruit-room all round. The shelves should 

 be supported on cast-iron pillars : they 

 may be made of stone or slate, either 

 material being preferable to wood, both 

 for durability and for keeping the fruit 

 cool and plump. The fruit-room is 

 12 feet high, 8 feet wide. The pas- 

 sage between the shelves is 3 feet 

 wide. The height of the ice-house is 

 20 feet from the bottom to top, and 

 11 feet diameter at the springing of the 

 arched roof, o is a layer of coal or gas 

 tar mixed up with sand, to prevent the 

 wet from getting down to the building. 

 The swan-necked pipe will exclude the 



