4r60 
[December, 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Ventilating Trap for Stables. 
Many a stable, cow-slied, or pig-pen may be 
greatly improved by tbe addition of a ventilating 
tube through the barn and roof above them. At 
'his season veutilatiou should 1je well provided for. 
There is much disease prevalent amongst stock. 
The majority of the horses in the northern states, 
ire suffering from influenza, fortunately of a mild 
description. Disease is frequent amongst cattle 
and pigs, and many deaths are continually reported. 
These diseases are in a great measure caused or 
made worse by foul air and unwholesome quarters. 
Unwholesome influences more quickly affect the 
blood through the 
lungs, than through the 
digestive organs, and 
foul air is productive 
of more evils than many 
persons are ready to 
suspect. But ventila¬ 
tion should not be 
effected without judg¬ 
ment. There is a pos¬ 
sibility of having too 
much of a good thing, 
and it is unhealthful to 
an animal to be com¬ 
pelled to stand in a 
constant current of cold 
air. To be perfectly 
safe, there must be 
some means of control¬ 
ling these currents. An 
easy method of effect¬ 
ing this, is by means of a 
ventilating tube, fur¬ 
nished with an air-trap 
that may be closed when high winds or storms occur. 
The tube is made to pass from the stable through 
the roof of the building. A valve, as shown in the 
illustration, is fixed in the tube, upon an axle or 
rotating bar, so that it may be opened by a cord, 
which hangs down into the stable within reach, 
and may be fastened to a hook. A small piece of 
lead is attached to the valve, the weight of which 
©loses the valve when the cord is loosened. The 
dotted lines show the position of the valve when 
closed, and the manner in which it lies against the 
cleats upon either side of the tube. To be fully 
serviceable, a ventilating tube should not be more 
thama foot in diameter, and fora large stable sev¬ 
eral may be provided at convenient points. 
VENTILATING TRAP. 
How to Build and Fill an Ice-House. 
—_o—- 
Afrthis season inquiries come from all quarters 
about cutting and packing ice, and building ice¬ 
houses. We have heretofore described tbe methods 
of cutting ice, and the construction of some kinds 
of ice-houses and cold chambers, for preserving 
meats, milk, fruit, etc. Those who wish for in¬ 
formation as to those matters, may find it in the 
American Agriculturist for Oct., 1870, Nov., 1871, 
-fan., 1872, and Oct.., 1874. At present we propose 
to give some general directions for cutting ice, 
building a cheap, simple, but useful ice-house, and 
storing ice in such a way that it may he preserved 
without waste during the hottest summer weather. 
Icc should he cut with a saw, (not with an ax,) into 
blocks of regular size, so that they will pack into 
the ice-house solidly and without leaving spaces 
between them. If cut in this manner, ice will keep 
perfectly well, if not more than three inches in 
thickness ; but a thickness of six inches at least is 
preferable. It should be cut and packed in cold, 
freezing weather, and if, as it is packed, a pailful of 
water is thrown over each layer to fill the spaces 
between the blocks, and exclude tbe air, it will 
keep very much better than otherwise. For a day 
or two before tbe bouse is filled, it is well to throw 
it open in order that the ground beneath it may 
freeze, and it may be left open for a few days after 
it is filled, if the weather continues cold. The 
bouse should be finally closed during cold, dry 
weather. A cheap ice-housc is as effective, if pro¬ 
perly constructed, as the most costly one. There 
are some general principles to he observed in the 
proper construction of any kind of ice-house, and 
all else is of secondary importance. There must he 
perfect drainage, and no admission of air beneath ; 
ample ventilation and perfect dryness above ; and 
sufficient non-conducting material for packing be¬ 
low, above, and around the ice, by which its low 
temperature may be preserved. The best packing 
consists of saw-dust, either of pine or hard-wood, 
spent tan-bark, charcoal powder, or what is known 
as “braize” from charcoal pits or store-houses, 
oat, wheat or buckwheat chaff, and lastly, and of 
least service, cut-straw, chaff, or marsh hay. The 
cheapest ice-house may be made as follows : The 
foundation should be dug about eighteen inches to 
two feet deep in a dry, gravelly or sandy soil. If 
the soil is clay, the foundation should be dug two 
feet deeper, and filled to that extent with broken 
bricks, coarse gravel, or clean, sharp sand. To 
make a drain beneath tbe ice of any other kind 
than this would be risky, and if not made with the 
greatest care to prevent access of air, the drain 
would cause the loss of the ice in a few weeks of 
warm weather. Around the inside of the founda¬ 
tion are laid sills of 2 x 6 plank, and upon this are 
“ toe-nailed ” studs of the same size, 10 feet long, 
at distances of four feet apart. Around these, 
matched boards or patent-siding are then nailed 
horizontally. A door frame is made at one end, or 
if the building is over 20 feet long, one may be 
made at each end for convenience in filling. When 
the outside boarding reaches the top of the frame, 
plates of 2 x 6 timber are spiked on to the 6tuds. 
Rafters of 2 x 4 scantling are then 6piked on to the 
frame over the studs ; a quarter pitch being suffici¬ 
ent, or if felt roofing is used, a flat roof with a very 
Fig. 2.— SECTION OP ICE-HOUSE FILLED. 
little slope to the rear might be used. In this latter 
ease, however, the bight of the building should be 
increased at least ono foot, to secure sufficient air 
space above the ice for ventilation. The roof may 
be of common boards or shingles, or of asbestos 
roofing, but the roof must be perfectly water-proof, 
and should have broad caves to shade the walls as 
much as possible from the sun’s heat. The outside 
of the building, roof included, should be white¬ 
washed, so as to reflect heat. The inside of the 
building should be lined with good hoards placed 
horizontally, and the space between the two board¬ 
ings should be filled closely with the packing. If 
packing material is scarce, air-proof lining, such as 
is used in the walls of dwelling houses, may be 
substituted for it, hut 
the joints in this case 
should be carefully 
made, that the out¬ 
side air may be ex¬ 
cluded, and that 
within the wall be 
kept stationary. In 
fig. 1 is seen tbe frame 
here described, closed 
in on one side and one 
end, and partly hoard¬ 
ed on the other side ; 
the front being left 
open to show the 
manner of making 
the frame. In fig. 2 
is shown a section of 
the house filled with 
ice; the lining be¬ 
tween tbe walls is 
shown by tbe dark 
shading. The pack¬ 
ing around the ice should be a foot thick at 
the bottom and the 6ides, and two feet at the top. 
There should be a capacious ventilator at the top 
of the house, and the spaces above the plates and 
between tbe raftors at the eaves will permit a 
constant current of air to pass over the upper 
Fig. 3.— ■DOOR FOR ICE-HOUSE. 
packing, and remove the collected vapor. The 
method of closing the doors is shown at fig. 3. 
Boards are placed aeross the inside of the door as 
the ice is packed, until the top is reached. Rye or 
other long straw is tied into bundles, as shown in 
the illustration, and these bundles are packed 
tightly into the space between the boards and the 
door. The door is then closed. We have found 
these straw bundles to seal up the door-space of 
an ice-house iu summer as well as the .door of a 
root-cellar in winter, very effectively. When the 
house is opened in the summer, and the upper 
packing is disturbed to reach the ice, it should al¬ 
ways be carefully replaced, and the door closed up 
again with the straw bundles. The bundles of 
straw may he fastened together by means of two or 
three cross-laths, and they can be removed and re¬ 
placed very readily. The material required for a 
house such as is here described, 20 feet long, 16 
feet wide, and 10 feet high, and which will hold 
over CO tons of ice, is as follows : 324 feet 2x6 
studding ; 12 rafters 2x4, 12 feet long ; 576 feet 
matched boards; 720 feet boards for lining; 480 
feet roofing boards, 3,000 shingles, or 480 feet of 
roofing ; one batten door, hinges and nails. About 
25 wagon loads of sawdust or other non-conductor 
would be needed for a house of this size. 
Feeding Smutty Corn. —This year’s com crop 
is greatly affected with 6inut, which is a usual ac¬ 
companiment of a wet season at earing time, 6uch 
as we have had this summer. The smut of com is 
a fuugus, iu some respects allied to the ergot of rye 
and other grasses, and has been known to produce 
Fig. 1.— FRAME FOR ICE-HOUSE. 
