468 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[December, 
Underground and other Ice Houses, 
At figure 1 we give an engraving, showing an ice 
Fig. 1.— SECTION OP UNDERGROUND ICE HOUSE. 
house built partly underground. Where the soil is 
gravelly and porous, such a house will be very use¬ 
ful, and may be built more cheaply than one whol¬ 
ly above ground. The excavation may be made as 
deep as may be desirable, perhaps six or eight feet, 
will be sufficient. There must, however, be perfect 
freedom from surface water, or the house will be a 
failure. The bottom may be made of a layer of 
large stones, two feet deep; upon this smaller 
stones should be laid, to fill all the inequalities, and 
form a level surface, and there should be placed 
upon these a layer of coarse gravel. This may form 
the floor of the house. The walls, up to a foot 
above the surface, may be built of stone laid in 
mortar or cement, and the sill of the upper frame 
should be bedded in the stone-work and cement. 
The posts and studs, 10 inches wide, and 2 inches 
thick, should be framed into the sill, as in figure 2, 
a being the sill shown in section ; 6, the stud, and 
c the tenon at the foot of the stud, and the mortise 
in the sill. At figure 3 the manner of framing the 
corners is given, a, a, being the sills, and 6, b, 6, the 
Fig. 2.— FRAMING, 
studs. One stud 
Fig. 3.— CORNER. 
placed at the end of one sill, 
and another one inch from it, at the shoulder of the 
adjoining sill. Thus the 
outer boards may be nail¬ 
ed firmly at each corner, 
and a good joint also be 
made inside, by inserting 
the boards on one side be¬ 
tween the two corner 
studs at c. This plan 
saves the cost of heavy 
comer posts, and gives 
equal firmness to the 
building. The corner can 
also be filled with saw¬ 
dust, making it a poorer 
conductor of heat than a 
solid post. For conveni¬ 
ence in taking out the ice, 
a ladder should be built 
against the inner wall. 
This is covered by the 
packing, when the house 
is filled, but as the ice is taken out, the ladder is ex¬ 
posed for use. The upper part may be finished as 
shown at figure 4, which represents an above¬ 
ground ice house. This is made exactly as the 
above-ground part of the house just described ; a 
bank of earth should be raised around the base, and 
well sodded, so as to turn off the surface water, 
and keep the ground about the house dry. We 
here repeat, what we have often stated, the few 
simple, but essential, requisites for making a satis¬ 
factory ice house, viz.: first, perfect drainage, with 
perfect exclusion of air below ; second, good ven¬ 
tilation above ; third, ample non-conductiDg mate¬ 
rial around and above the ice ; fourth, total exclu¬ 
sion of air and water from the ice, and fifth, solid 
packing of the ice, and the filling of the house in 
dry cold weather. If these rules are observed, it 
matters not of what the house is constructed. 
Plan of Corn-Crib and Granary. 
“C. W. Y.,” Lenawee Co., Mich., sends a plan 
of a combined granary and corn-crib, which is 32 
feet long, 20 feet wide, and 10 feet high, from the 
stone foundation to the eaves of the roof, (see fig¬ 
ured). It has a drive-way through the middle, 10 
feet wide, and double doors at each end, by which 
ample ventilation may be secured in fine weather. 
The grain bins, 6 feet square, and five in number, 
are upon one side, and the corn-crib on the other. 
DRIVING FLOOR 
CORN CRIB 
Fig. 2.—PLAN OF CRIB AND GRANARY. 
A stair-way, 3 feet wide, leads to the floor above, 
where damp grain may be spread beneath the roof 
to dry, (see figure 2). The corn-crib is so arranged 
that the corn may be shoveled out at the bottom, 
by nailing cross-boards to the scantling, projecting 
12 inches, and a board 10 inches wide is nailed to 
these, to make a long spout or trough, (figure 3). 
New Regulations for the Barley Trade.— 
The Grain Committee of the New York Produce 
Exchaftge have made new regulations for the grad¬ 
ing of barley, of which those applying to American 
grain are as follows, viz. : No. 1 State barley, four- 
rowed, shall be of a bright natural color, plump, 
sound, and well cleaned, weighing not less than 48 
pounds to the measured bushel. No. 2 State bar¬ 
ley, four-rowed, shall be plump, sound, reasonably 
clean, but may be slightly stained. No. 3 State 
barley, four-rowed, shall be sound, reasonably clean, 
fit for malting, otherwise unfit for No. 2.—No. 1 
State barley, two-rowed, shall be. bright, natural 
color, plump, sound, and well cleaned. No. 2 State 
barley, two-rowed, shall be sound, reasonably clean, 
but in color not good enough for No. 1. No. 3 
State barley, two-rowed, shall be sound and fit for 
malting, but in color and in cleanliness unfit for 
No. 2. Rejected barley shall be such as is for any 
reason unfit for No. 3.—No. 1 Western barley shall 
be plump, bright, sound, clean, and free from other 
grain, weighing not less than 48 pounds to the 
Fig. 4.— ICE HOUSE ABOVE GROUND. 
measured bushel. No.-2 Western shall be sound, 
bright, not plump enough for No. 1, reasonably 
clean, and free from other grain, weighing not less 
than 46 pounds to the measured bushel. No. 3 
Western barley shall include shrunken or otherwise 
slightly damaged barley, weighing not less than 41 
pounds to the measured bushel.—RejectedWestern. 
All Western barley which is damp, musty, or from 
any cause is badly damaged or largely mixed with, 
other grain, shall be graded Rejected Western.— 
These rules are now in force. Bright color, alone, 
distinguishes between No. 1 and No. 2, and as the 
color depends very much upon careful harvesting, 
it is important that this distinction be noted. 
The Stock Business in Nebraska.— The ranges- 
on the North Platte River, in Nebraska, are now 
Fig. 3.—arrangement of bins in crib. 
occupied by more than thirty owners of droves. 
We have a list of twenty-eight of these owners,, 
with the size of each of their herds, from which we 
find that the herds number from 500 to 10,000, av¬ 
eraging about 3,000. The ranges have been located 
and occupied from one to five years ; the business 
is proving profitable, and is consequently increas¬ 
ing. The capital required to carry on one of these 
cattle ranges, is about $40 per head of stock, which, 
is sufficient to continue the business for five years,, 
when profitable returns begin. At the end of this 
period, the herd will have increased more than four 
and a half times its original number, and the total' 
cost for the five years will have been repaid in full, 
with a profit of 20 per cent over and above an an¬ 
nual charge of 7 per cent on the money invested, at 
the end of each year. Two of the owners in the' 
list now before us, are tanners in New York, viz.,, 
Messrs. Keith and Barton, who own 8,000. head, and 
Messrs. Nichols Beach & Co., who own 5,000 head. 
All of these herds'are in course of improvement by 
means of pure-bred bulls of the Shorthorn and 
other beef-producing breeds, and in a few years 
will supply the finest grade beeves for both home 
consumption and for shipment to foreign markets. 
