1809 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
415 
put away for the season in such a manner that 
they will neither heat from over-crowding, nor 
be frozen by exposure. There are three ways 
in which the winter-storing may be done on 
farms where there is not sufficient cellar room: 
1, Long heaps may be made, and covered, first 
with straw and then with earth. The precau¬ 
tions to be observed here are to secure suffi¬ 
cient vent for the escape of heat and the result- 
Fig. 1.— CROSS-SECTION OF ROOT CELLAR. 
ant gases of slight fermentation ; to have a good 
gutter running all around the heap (and leading 
away from it on the lowest side); and to 
put on enough covering for perfect protection. 
9, Pits may be dug in the ground (2 1 j 2 to 3 
feet deep), and tiers of roots carefully laid up, 
not more than 2 feet thick, and separated from 
each other by about 6 inches of earth. The 
layers of roots should have their spaces mostly 
filled with earth, only enough room being left, 
here and there, for the escape of heat. When 
the pit is filled even with the surface of the 
ground it should be covered with straw or rub¬ 
bish of a dry character,the thickness of this being 
gradually increased as the season advances, un¬ 
til we are secure against the hardest frosts;—at 
first, however, it must not be more than six 
inches thick, and must lie so lightly as to allow 
free ventilation to the mass below, this becom¬ 
ing less necessary as the first heating of the 
roots passes over, and as the weather grows 
colder. Cornstalks should not be used, as they 
will lie too closely and communicate decay. 
This plan is simpler, cheaper, and safer than 
the first, and should supplant it in all cases, un¬ 
less it is impossible to find a spot that is (or can 
be made) dry for a depth of 2 J | a feet. 
3, The above are makeshifts, and have many 
disadvantages, the chief of which is the fact that 
the stock cannot be examiued and sorted. The 
“ Field Cellar,” which may be cheaply built, is 
greatly superior to pits. Its construction will 
be understood from the following directions: 
Dig in dry ground a trench PL ft. deep, 8 ft. 
wide, and 10 ft. longer than it is intended to 
make the cellar. Along each side, Dja ft. below 
Fig. 2.— LENGTHWISE SECTION OF ROOT CELLAR. 
the surface, cut out a groove such as is shown in 
fig. 1, at g, g, so as to form an oblique support 
for a board 8 inches wide lying against its lower 
side. Procure for rafters either light chestnut 
posts, or 2 x 5 spruce joists, saw them to a length 
of 5 ft., and set up a pair (spiked together at 
the top) every 3 ft. of the length of the build¬ 
ing. Nail cheap boards or slabs on top of these 
rafters, so as to cover it completely. Openings 
an inch wide between the boards will do no 
harm. Cover this roof 12 or 18 inches thick 
with earth, and sod it neatly, drawing the sod 
on each side to a gutter (7q 7t) which will lead 
away the water of rains. The ends may be 
closed with double boarding filled in with saw¬ 
dust, leaves, sea-weed or other litter, and provid¬ 
ed with doors wide enough to carry a bushel 
basket through—the gable over the tops of the 
doors being left open for ventilation, or, which 
would be better, supplied with movable shutters. 
Fig. 2 shows the longitudinal section of such a 
cellar about 30 feet long, with an area 5 feet 
long at each end, having steps (5, a,) for the 
approach. C is the earthen wall of the cellar; 
d, the board roof; e, the earth covering; and//, 
the rafters. In light soils it will be necessary 
to lay up a stone, brick, or post and board wall 
against the side of the cellar, and some such 
protection should always be given to the area 
at the ends. Such a cellar will last for twenty 
years, and is thoroughly frost-proof. If made 
30 ft. long it will hold—being filled only to the 
eaves—about 700 bushels. It may, of course, be 
made wider and higher, and have root bins on 
each side with a passage-way between them. 
Cheap Ice-Houses. 
To satisfy the numerous inquiries which every 
year flow in upon us early in autumn, we must 
give pretty regularly a chapter on ice-houses. 
This year almost everybody that inquires asks 
about cheap houses. The cheapest ice-house 
we know of is really no house at all. Many 
years ago we knew of its happening in Vir¬ 
ginia, that there was a very cold spell, and a 
gentleman wishing to save the ice, and having 
plenty of straw', made a floor of rails, 14 feet 
square, which he covered with straw two feet 
thick; then layer after layer of ice W'as piled up, 
kept in place by stakes and boards perhaps, and 
when the pile was high enough, straw was 
stamped down around it, and a wall built proba¬ 
bly six or eight feet thick, and the wdiole was 
capped and thatched like a stack. The ice 
kept well through the summer. All the condi¬ 
tions of a good ice-house were met—drainage, 
non-conducting walls, and a slight degree of 
ventilation, or rather a change of air, through 
diffusion. In whatever w’ay we meet these con¬ 
ditions we shall succeed in keeping ice. The 
most successful packers put a very thick mass 
of straw' at the bottom. 
In building it is cheapest to use good materi¬ 
als. It is rare that we save much in employing 
cheap lumber. The sills of the building should 
rest on a stone foundation, to keep them as dry 
as possible, and it is best to lay this in cement 
mortar. A tight floor (or a cement floor) may 
be laid, having a slight incline, in connection 
with a drain to carry off the water, or the floor 
may be laid so as to let the water through it. 
On this rails are laid, which are to be covered 
with straw, to support the ice. Upon the sills, 
which may be 10 inches wide and 3 inches 
thick, a frame is set up of 10-inch hemlock 
planks, 2 inches thick, 3 feet apart, nailed to the 
sills with a 3 x 4-inch strip, as a plate, nailed 
outside on the tops of the upright planks. To 
the planks are nailed the inside wall and the 
weather boarding. These double walls should 
hardly be less than 8 feet high, and as the 
weather boarding is put on, the space between 
the inner and outer boards is filled with spent 
tan bark, planing-mill or carpenters’ shavings, 
sawdust, or any similar porous filling, put in 
dry, and well packed. The roof rests upon the 
plates described, and it is best to have the eave3 
extend a good way beyond the side of the 
building, though not essential. The ice should 
never be filled much if any above the plates, 
and the best place for the door is in the 
gable end, above them, although a door may 
be made in the north end, going nearly to the 
ground. This is a convenience, both in packing 
and in taking out the ice, and may remain closed 
and tightly packed until the house is nearly 
empty. Such doors are made with a common 
door for the outside, but within, instead of an¬ 
other door, is a series of boards, to fit horizontal¬ 
ly between cleats in the door posts. Tie the roof 
down, if necessary, bv nailing strips from sev¬ 
eral of the rafters on each side to the plank 
stanchions forming the w T alls, or allow some of 
the stanchions to extend above the plates, and 
nail or pin them to the rafters. The space be¬ 
tween the sill and the roof should be as little 
as possible, but there should be a few auger- 
holes or a sliding shutter in the north end, to 
provide ventilation. With such a house, 12 
feet square, or 12 x 14, or larger still, we think 
there will be no difficulty in keeping ice the 
year round. A structure such as we have de¬ 
scribed maybe built very cheaply if a man does 
a good part of the labor himself, and any farmer 
in the country ought to be able to do it all. 
A Two-horse Cultivator Wanted. 
Dir. Mathias Schafer, of Grant Co., Wis., 
writes us: “ Will you describe a good two-horse 
cultivator for tearing up and pulverizing fall- 
plowed land in spring previous to sowing spring 
grain?”—It depends a good deal on the character 
of the land. But as a general rule, other things 
being equal, we should select the cultivator that 
has the narrowest and sharpest teeth and which 
are set so as to strike the land obliquel)'. The 
trouble with most of our cultivators is, that 
they are designed for cutting up thistles and 
other weeds, rather than for tearing up and 
pulverizing the soil. The teeth are too broad 
and too straight, and from striking the ground 
too abruptly they not only tear up too much of 
the sod but run unnecessarily hard. An imple¬ 
ment made on the principle of Share’s harrow, 
with the cutting parts constructed of polished 
steel, would do good work in preparing sod 
land. On sod land plowed pretty early in the 
fall, and when the sod is nearly rotted, a culti¬ 
vator consisting of a number of small, plow¬ 
shaped teeth, made of steel, would answer an 
excellent purpose. At the Michigan Agricul¬ 
tural College farm we saw a two-liorse culti¬ 
vator (the name of winch we have forgotten) 
at work among the corn, which had two or 
three sets of teeth that could be changed, accord¬ 
ing to the character of the land. One set con¬ 
sisted of a number of small plows that would 
turn furrows perhaps three or four inches 
wide. We think some such implement as the 
one referred to would be useful for freshing up 
and pulverizing the soil in the spring on an 
early fall-plowed sod. Let us hear from the 
disinterested cultivators upon this subject. 
- -- —- « 3> « -^*M*a -■---■> 
Is the Largest the Best ? 
The awards of premiums at the various exhi¬ 
bitions seem to indicate that in the eyes of the 
judges the largest specimens are the best, and 
the prizes goto the greatest amount avoirdupois. 
Whatever may be the case with some fruits, we 
are quite sure that in vegetables size is not al¬ 
ways an indication of superior quality. It is well 
enough at a county fair to give premiums for the 
largest pumpkins, etc., as it is desirable that the 
fair should be made attractive; but well-estab- 
