280 
ICE-HOUSES. 
you can give me any information respecting the sick¬ 
ness, &c., of the pigs, I shall feel much obliged. 
Alexander Leeds. 
St. Joseph , Berrien Co., Mich., July 15, 1845. 
The pigs simply got chilled, could not suck their 
dam, and of course died. The lady’s advice above was 
good, and they should not have been moved till they 
had been nursed, for they would then have got 
strength and warmth. Feeding salt and brandy was 
very bad; they should have been kept warm and 
fed with warm milk, as they were perishing from 
hunger and cold. A young pig is one of the most 
delicate of animals, and should always he farrowed in 
mild weather, and in a comfortable place. It is 
dangerous to remove them from the sow when first 
dropped; all one can do is simply to watch and pre¬ 
vent her overlaying them, and put them to the teats if 
they stray away; all the rest must be left to their 
own instincts. 
ICE-HOUSES. 
The long summers which generally pervade the 
United States, and their enervating oppressive heat, 
render the use of ice a necessary, alike conducive to 
the health and comfort of the people. It is to be re¬ 
gretted that so few of the farmers think of this, and 
not one in a hundred perhaps has his ice-house. Ice 
during the summer is generally considered among 
them as scarcely attainable, and a luxury only to be 
enjoyed by the rich. But if they knew how cheaply 
and easily an ice-house could be constructed, and 
then how to fill it properly, scarce a farmer in the 
country who would not have it in abundance, in ad¬ 
dition to his cold spring or well. 
The best situation usually contended for in an ice¬ 
house, is the north side of a hill, with the earth on all 
sides save the front, and the whole under shade- 
trees. Now as for the shade-trees there never was a 
greater mistake, for they attract moisture, and moist¬ 
ure melts ice ten times as fast as a hot wind or the 
sun. We also object to the sides and back of the 
ice-house being of earth, as that is moist too ; and in¬ 
stead of preserving the ice as our readers may gene¬ 
rally think, it has a tendency to make it melt the 
more rapidly. An ice-house then may be placed in 
any airy, open situation, and preserve the ice a long 
time, provided it has a good drainage and be properly 
filled. These two are the essential requisites. As a 
proof of this, see the buildings on the Rockland lake 
for its preservation. These are of wood, standing 
entirely above ground, and in fact are built just like a 
common plain barn. During winter the ice is sawed 
out of the lake of any thickness, in blocks of about 
two feet long, and two feet wide. These are then 
taken to the ice-house, and laid up compactly in it 
just like a heap of brick. This forms a solid mass, 
impenetrable to the sun and air, and it will thus keep 
an indefinite length of time. Perhaps our readers 
generally are not aware how long it takes to melt 
solid blocks of ice. We have often seen them on the 
banks of rivers in the Northern States in June, and 
are informed that some of the huge blocks which 
were thrown up last winter on to the banks of the 
Niagara, near Lewiston, although constantly exposed 
to the sun, air, and rain, were still of considerable 
size at midsummer, the present season. 
The best and safest way to construct an ice-house 
in this climate is, to make a wooden frame with posts 
about a foot thick, then plank up inside and out, and 
fill between the planking with saw-dust or tan-bark. 
An under roof should also be made, and the space be¬ 
tween the two filled the same as the sides, or with 
straw. If the soil be not of a porous nature, we would 
lay a plank floor for the ice to rest on, at least a foot 
high from the ground, and this should be covered a 
foot thick with straw, before putting on the ice. The 
entrance doors should be double, with a foot space be¬ 
tween them. In filling the ice-house, if it be incon¬ 
venient to saw the ice into exact blocks, to match and 
lay up smooth within like mason work, then beat the 
lumps down with a heavy mallet as they are thrown 
in, and make the mass as compact as possible. 
Mr. T. S. Pleasants, of Virginia, gives a very 
cheap model for an ice-house in our second volume, 
page 370; but as many of our present readers may 
not have seen it, we republish it for their benefit. 
“ The best ice-house I have ever seen, is one made 
in as cheap and rude a manner as the plainest farmer 
could desire. On the side of a hill a pit was dug; a 
simple pen of logs supported the walls ; it was cov¬ 
ered with rived pine slabs, and so open as to admit a 
free circulation of air. During the heat of the day, 
the sun shines full upon the roof. And withal, the 
pit is only 12 feet square, by 14 feet deep. It has 
been in use now for six or seven years, and has never 
been clear of ice since it was first filled. Two years 
ago, when the winter was so mild, it was only half 
filled, with thin ice ; and yet there was some remain¬ 
ing at the end of the next season. In the construc¬ 
tion of this house, there is nothing to distinguish it, 
except the perfect draining.” 
For the sketch of Fig. 65 and its description, we 
are indebted to the London Gardener’s Chronicle. 
aba, Conical hole in the ground. 
c b, Stones or rubble, to act as a drain 18 inches 
deep. 
