SG6 THE PRACTICAL GARDENER. [DeC, 



or four inches thick. After there are about two feet of ice 

 thus pounded, take ten pounds of salt, and dissolve it in ten 

 gallons of boiling water. When the salt is sufBciently dis- 

 solved, pour it on the ice through a common garden watering- 

 pot ; thus going on regularly every two feet, watering, and 

 laying the sides with straw till the house is filled, finishing 

 with a double quantity of the salt water. After it has been in 

 eight days, and when it has subsided, fill up closely with 

 small bundles of straw, to exclude all air as far as possible. 



An ice-house filled in this manner will be found, when 

 opened in summer, to be as firm as rock, and to require at all 

 times the force of a pick-axe to break it up. It w\\\ be found 

 to keep three times longer than the common method of filling 

 ice-houses, and more suitable for being received from the ice- 

 house for use, as it will keep three times longer when exposed 

 to the air. 



It appears, however, from a communication inserted in the 

 same periodical, from Mr. Saunders, Gardener at Luscombe, 

 in Devonshire, that a regular and plentiful supply of ice may 

 be obtained without the aid of salt. The following is the 

 method which he adopts : — As soon as the ice is frozen to a 

 proper thickness, it is conveyed to the ice-house, where a sufiS- 

 cient number of men are ready to proceed to break it in small 

 pieces ; then they throw it into the house, where three or four 

 men more are employed pounding it, till a sufficient quantity 

 of powder is obtained to prevent any part of it being hollow. 

 In this manner I proceed till the house and entrance, or pas- 

 sage to the house, is completely filled. The ice which the pas- 

 sage contains, furnishes a supply for six or eight weeks ; at the 

 expiration of which time the house is opened, and a quantity 

 of straw taken into it, sufficient to fill the cavity that will then 

 be found between the ice and the wall, and also to lie one 

 bundle thick over the top of the ice. 



