AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
319 
chief injury was done, the heavy snow of 
last Winter was not preceded by any rain, 
but it fell upon dry ground after the unusu¬ 
ally long dry season in November apd De¬ 
cember. The soil was so warm and free 
from water, and was so thoroughly protect¬ 
ed by dry snow, that the mice were able to 
burrow in it and breed during the entire 
Winter. It is well known that these ani¬ 
mals multiply very rapidly, and quickly ar¬ 
rive at maturity when in good quarters. A 
single pair finding their way into a house, 
will in a few months completely overrun it. 
This will account for the immense numbers 
of them produced last Winter. For a time 
they found the usual sustenance in seeds, 
&c., in the soil, but owing to their great 
numbers, and the long continuance of the 
snow, they were driven to attack not only 
the roots of fruit trees but,also of shade trees, 
and shrubbery of various kinds. We 
have heard of whole hedges of the Osage 
orange, and also currant bushes, blackberry, 
raspberry and strawberry plants being de¬ 
stroyed. The mountain and prickly ash, 
beach, maple, elm and other shade trees, 
and even evergreens were also attacked. 
Should the ground fill with water this Fall 
before freezing, the ordinary methods of pro¬ 
tecting trees will doubtless suffice, but we 
need some method to resort to in a season 
like last year. Who will suggest an effectual 
one I 
Trapping Mice. —The number of mice may 
be very materially reduced by trapping 
them. They are very readily caught. The 
little wooden traps, with a spring yoke rising 
over a round hole in the side, can be bought 
very cheaply. They are retailed for about 
three cents each when having but one hole, 
and for six cents with two holes. Two to 
three dollars will purchase a hundred of the 
single hole traps. These baited with a bit 
of cheese, or cheese-rind, and distributed 
around an orchard, will thin out the mice 
very rapidly. We have a lot of them about 
the dwelling, garden, &c., and find them 
more effectual, and less annoying, (especially 
o’nights.) than a gang of cats. 
Shielding the Trunks. —A subscriber of 
Clermont, Columbia Co., N. Y., after speak¬ 
ing of the extensive ravages in his own 
neighborhood, where much fruit is grown, 
says : A neighbor of mine suggests buy¬ 
ing roofing tin, and cut each sheet, length¬ 
wise, into two pieces. Bend one of these 
pieces around the base of each tree. This 
will protect them eighteen inches above 
the ground. The tin cases can be bent larger 
or smaller to suit the size of the tree. The 
cost would only be about six dollars for two 
hundred trees, and the same tins would an¬ 
swer for a succession of years, as they could 
be taken up and housed each Spring. 
Another old plan is to tie rags to small 
sticks and dip them in melted sulphur 
and set one up at the base of each tree. We 
doubt very much whether mice are afraid 
of sulphur in any shape.— [Ed. 
Lost! Yesterday, somewhere about 
sun set, two golden hours, set with sixty 
diamond minutes. No reward is offered, for 
they are gone forever. 
ICE-HOUSE-HOW TO BUILD A CHEAP ONE. 
Several subscribers inquire how to con 
struct a cheap ice-house. It is not difficult 
nor expensive to build one large enough to 
supply all the demands of any single family. 
A small room, in a shady location, with dry 
bottom and sides, filled in with powdered 
charcoal, or tan-bark, or saw-dust, is about 
all that is required. 
Those having a large cellar may appro¬ 
priate a part of it for an ice-room, if there 
be drainage at the bottom to carry off sur¬ 
plus water. Make a double bin, with at 
least a foot space between the boards form¬ 
ing the sides, and fill the spaee with tan- 
bark or saw dust. Dry pounded charcoal 
is still better if it can be obtained. The 
cellar walls may form a pirt of the outside 
walls of the ice-room, but a considerable 
thickness of the non-conductors—tan-bark or 
saw-dust, must be put between the walls 
and ice. The doors to such a room should 
be double. Loose boards laid down upon 
timbers, and a coat of straw one foot in 
thickness, will suffice for the bottom. Pack 
in the ice closely, filling the chinks with 
snow or pounded ice, and put plenty of 
saw-dust around the sides, so that the whole 
shall be solid. Cover the top with a foot or 
more of saw-dust or straw, which will set¬ 
tle down as the ice melts or is removed. If 
care be taken to admit as little air as may 
be, and the room be ten to twelve feet square, 
it will keep well all Summer. 
We have heard of an ice-house construct¬ 
ed nearly like the above, only that it was 
sunk down four feet below the cellar bottom, 
and five feet above. The top was a sore of 
double-decking, with a foot of tan-bark be¬ 
tween the boards forming it. The top of this 
served as a large milk shelf. This arrange¬ 
ment may work well if a good drain be¬ 
neath the whole carries off all water, Such 
an ice-room may be easily constructed in 
connection with a milk house, or on the north 
side of a bank or hill. 
Usually, however, we should advise to 
erect an ice-house above ground, say on the 
north side of a building or of a hill, or 
where it will be shaded by trees as much as 
may be. * 
For the outside walls set up a double row 
of posts or scantling, thus : 
These posts are to be of durable wood, 
with the inner sides hewed or sawed straight, 
to admit boards being nailed upon them. 
They must set firmly in the ground, and ex¬ 
tend as high as may be needed. They may 
be set two or three feet apart in the row, 
the rows having a space of 15 to 20 inches 
between them. They are to be sawed off 
square at the top, all of an equal hight; 
then nail boards or planks on the inside of 
the two rows- thus : 
Make a double door upon the side open¬ 
ing. Fill up the space between the boards 
with powdered charcoal, tan-bark or saw¬ 
dust, packing it in well. 
Nail or spike a plate upon the top of each 
row of posts, and fasten the rows together 
by cross-pieces. Joists are also to be put 
across, to hold an upper floor, as well as to 
keep the sides from spreading. 
A steep roof should be put up, the rafters 
extending over the eaves and sides of the 
building three or four feet, to shade the walls 
and carry the rain away from them. 
For a floor, put down timbers of any kind, 
and lay on loose planks or boards, and cover 
a foot or more thick with straw. See that 
there is sufficient drainage under the floor 
to carry off all water running down. 
As soon as solid clean ice, a foot more or 
less in thickness, can be obtained, saw it 
into square blocks as large as can be handled 
conveniently, and pack it into the room up¬ 
on the straw as closely as may be, filling in 
all the chinks with snow or pounded ice. 
If in very cold weather, a little water thrown 
in will freeze and make the whole room 
solid. Be careful to have the space between 
the mass of ice and the wall well filled in 
with pounded ice, snow, straw or saw-dust. 
When the whole is filled nearly to the 
joists, put upon top of the ice a quantity of 
saw-dust or straw, and lay down an upper 
floor, upon which also should be put another 
layer of saw-dust, tan-bark or straw, one 
foot or more deep. It is well also to have 
an air-hole through the upper floor and roof, 
with a covering to shed off rain. 
The larger such a building is made, the 
better the ice will keep. A room twelve to 
fifteen feet square, and eight to twelve feet 
high, will be large enough for all the wants 
of a large family, or two or three small ones 
combined. 
The above general outline is in part derived 
from observation, and in part from Allen’s 
Rural Architecture, in which cuts and full 
