98 
mSMB 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
tie to avert the disease. He can indeed avoid direct and 
heavy manuring; he can avoid sowing so late as to ren¬ 
der it certain the wheat cannot mature in season; he can 
use substances favorable to the formation of the silicates 
required to give hardness and firmness to the stem, 
as ashes, and other alkalies; he can plow or sow his 
wheat in drills, to enable the air to circulate among his 
grain more freely and more quickly dry up the perni¬ 
cious moisture; but until he can command the seasons, 
and determine their temperature and degree of moisture, 
he can do little towards procuring entire exemption from 
blight. 
A Wheat Grower of Western New-York. 
IGE-HOUSES AND THEIR CONSTRUCTION. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker— There was a time, and 
that not long since, when the use of ice in summer was 
considered a mere luxury, but it has now become a mat¬ 
ter of convenience and practical utility in the preserva¬ 
tion of buttez’, meat, fish, and other articles of food, and . 
in the preparation of I'efreshing drinks during the heat 
of summer. Hence we find that buildings as reservoirs 
of ice in warm weather, have become more common 
and are inci-easing in number; but there appears to be a 
diversity in the manner of constructing them, or a want 
of information as to the method of keeping out heat, or 
preventing the ice from melting. A few observations 
on the subject may not be amiss, and will be made in the 
hope that it may lead those who are about to provide 
themselves with an ice-house, to adopt the correct prin¬ 
ciple in its construction. 
To preserve ice during the heat of summer, it must be 
protected from the influence of the air above, and the 
temperature of the earth around and beneath the building 
in which it is contained. This is done by interposing 
substances which are non-conductors of heat, between the 
ice and surrounding bodies. The building may be erect¬ 
ed above or beneatli the earth, to suit the convenience 
of the owner. 
A body of ice in an ice-house, will gradually diminish 
by melting in summei', not only from atmospheric influ¬ 
ence, but also from the heat of the earth around and be¬ 
neath it. Hence it must be guarded by a non-conductor 
above and below, as well as on the sides. 
An ice-house may be of any given dimensions or ca¬ 
pacity, to suit the uses to which the contents are to be 
applied. For a private family in the country, a build¬ 
ing ten feet square and ten feet deep, holding a cube of 
ice of those dimensions, will have a portion of it re¬ 
maining when the frosts of autumn render its further use 
unnecessary until the ensuing season. 
The substances which are most generally employed as 
ncm-conductors in lining ice-houses, are charcoal, tanner’s 
bark, limbs of cedar and pine trees, hay, straw and chaff of 
wheat, rye, barley, oats or rice. Wool, feathers and 
hair, belong to this class of bodies, but they are too ex¬ 
pensive to be applied to such a purpose. 
Those who have constructed ice-houses without the 
use of the abovementioned non-conductors, or as they may 
be more eorrectl}^ named, slow conductors of heat, have 
been disappointed in preserving ice through the summer 
in the latitudes of 40° and 4P north, as the following 
examples will show: 
1. A farmer, for instance, built an ice-house under 
ground with a wooden frame, and planked the outside 
to keep the ice from coming in contact with the earth. 
He threw some straw in the bottom and filled it with 
ice, but before the month of July it was entirely melted. 
2. Another person planked both sides of a wooden 
frame under ground, leaving an empty space of eight or 
ten inches all around the ice, supposing that such a bar¬ 
rier of cold air between the earth and ice, would prevent 
it from melting, but it was all gone in July.* 
3. An ice-house, twelve or fourteen feet square, partly 
under ground, on a side hill, with a northern exposure, 
having hollow walls and a plank floor some inches above 
the bottom, was filled with ice, and the ice covered with 
straw, but it disappeared in August, when it was most in 
demand. 
4. A circular ice-house under ground, ten feet deep, 
and as many in diazneter, built of stone, would not pre¬ 
serve ice through the summer. 
5. A farmer desirous of rendering his ice-house doub¬ 
ly useful, had a milk room constructed over it, but the 
floor confined the air under it, and over the ice, and 
caused such an accumulation of heat, that the ice was 
soon melted, and neither object was obtained. 
From these examples it may be seen that something 
more is wanting to preserve ice in summer, than a cavi¬ 
ty beneath the surftice. This will be rendered more evi¬ 
dent when we ascertain the average temperature of the 
earth in warm weather, and find that it exceeds by eigh¬ 
teen or twenty degrees the freezing point, on the scale 
of Farenheit’s thermometer. We are enabled to do this 
by referring to the late Dr. Mitchell’s “Experiments on 
the tempei'ature of spring water near New-York,” as re¬ 
lated in the New-York Medical Repository, vol. VII, p. 
414: 
“ On the 13:h, 14th, and 15th days of August, 1803, 
Doct. Mitchill made many experiments on the tempei-a- 
ture of water gushing from the interior parts of the earth 
in the neighborhood of Plandome, on Long Island, in the 
latitude of about 40°, 45’, N.” 
“ The coldest springs that could be found, were of the 
temperature of 54°. And this was the exact heat of wa- 
. * “Air is better fitted for difl'using than storing up hear.”— 
Polar Seas and Regions. No, XIV. of Harper’s Family Library, 
page 16. 
ter fresh drawn from a well of thirty feet in depth, part¬ 
ly shaded from the sun, and situated in a slope facing the 
north. In all these experiments the elevation was but a 
few feet above the level of the ocean.” 
“These heats correspond very nearly with the tem¬ 
perature of the cave of the Observatory of Paris, ninety 
feet under ground, which has an invariable point of 53 
degi'ees, and of the deep cave in England, of which Mr. 
Boyle writes, which was of the same warmth.” 
“Mr. Kirw'an, in his estimate of the temperature of dif¬ 
ferent latitudes, has calculated that the temperature of 
Cambridge, lat. 42°, 25', in Massachusetts, was '50°, 3' ; 
and of Ipswich, lat. 42°, 38', in the same state, was 50°, 
17'. These temperatures he computes to be ten degrees, 
or a little more, below the European standard. From 
an obserbation of Kalm, on the heat of water from a deep 
well, in lat. 42°, between New-York and Albany, it 
would appear that the heat of water thereabout was 49°. 
This is five degrees colder than the temperature on Long 
Island, and eleven lower than the same lati'tiule in Eu¬ 
rope. The heat of water from the deepest wells near 
Philadelphia, lat. 39°, 56', is stated to be 52°, 5'; that is 
a degree and a half colder than at New-York, and about 
ten degrees cooler than Europe. This is probably ow¬ 
ing to its greater distance from the ocean.” 
As in the construction of ice-houses, the warmth of 
the earth is to be guai’ded against, we may add later tes¬ 
timony than that of Dr. Mitchill, but corroborating his 
views. HarpeUs Family Library, (No. XIV,) contains 
a volume on the “ Polar Seas and Regions,” and in the 
first chapter on “the climate of the Polar regions,” p. 
15, we quote as follows: 
“Copious springs which percolate the bowels of the 
earth, and rapidly convey the impressions of subterra¬ 
nean heat to the surface, wnll consequently furnish the 
most accurate repoi’ts of the natural register of climate. 
These, if rightly chosen, differ not sensibly in their tem¬ 
perature at all seasons, and whether they have their seat 
at a depth of one hundred or of five hundred feet, they 
affect the thermometer alike.” 
To this quotation is appended the following note: 
“ The celebrated fountain of Vaucluse, situate in the 
latitude of 43°, 55', and 360 feet above the level of the 
Mediterranean sea, has been observed to acquire its high¬ 
est temperature about the first day of September, and to 
reach the lowest at the beginning of April; the former 
being 56°, 3', and the latter 54°, 1', by Farenheit’s 
scale; which gives 55°, 2', for its mean heat.” 
From the facts contained in the foregoing extracts, it 
will be observed that in the neighborhood of New-York, 
the temperature of spring and well water in summer, is 
54 degrees of FarenheiPs thermometer, and consequently 
the earth beneath the surface, and beyond the reach of 
the direct rays of the sun, has the same temperature, 
which is 22 degrees above the freezing point. This de¬ 
gree of heat will rapidly melt ice in any cavity, cellar 
or ice-house, where it comes in contact with the earth, 
air, wood, or stone, through which the heat is conveyed. 
Ice cannot therefore be preserved in a reservoir lined 
with wood or stone. It might be thought that the ice 
would impart its frigidity to the stone or earth surround¬ 
ing it, and thereby be preserved fz-om melting, but the 
paramount heat of 54 degrees will penetrate on all sides, 
and from the bottom, and reduce it to a fluid state. The 
melted ice soon absoi’bs heat, and rises to summer tem¬ 
perature of the earth, and adds more power to melt the 
congealed mass. 
The heat of the earth south of New-York, may be 
something higher than 54 degrees, requiring greater pre¬ 
cautions in guarding ice-houses from the intrusion of 
warmth. Farther north or inland from the sea coast, it 
may be less, as in latitude 42° on the Hudson river, it is 
49°, which is seventeen degrees above freezing, and suf¬ 
ficiently warm to be capable of melting ice. We must 
calculate also, that in summer the heat penetrates the 
surface of the earth from two to three feet, or as deep as 
the fi’osts of winter penetrate. Hence the layer of ice 
near the surface, in an ice-house, is subjected to a great¬ 
er degree of heat than 54, from the upper surface of the 
earth around it. 
In constructing an ice-house, therefore, these data must 
be kept in view. If it be built under ground, it must 
have a sandy bottom to absorb the water which settles 
from the melted ice, for after all the precautions taken, 
a portion will become liquid. If the bottom be a hard- 
pan, or clay, or any kind of soil retentive of water, there 
must' be a drain to carry off the ice that melts. The same 
precautions must be taken as to the bottom, if built above 
ground. Neither should have a plank or tight wooden 
floor. Pieces of timber should be laid on the ground, and 
cross pieces or rails over them, so as to be raised ten or 
twelve inches from the earth. On these rails are to be 
placed some non-conducting substance from four to six 
inches thick. Small limbs of pine or cellar trees, or any 
kind of straw, are adapted to this purpose. 
The frame timbers of an ice-house under ground, 
should be large enough to allow of hollow walls from 
eight to twelve inches thick, which should be filled with 
charcoal, tanner’s bark, straw, or chaff, whichever may 
be most easily or cheaply obtained. Charcoal is here too 
much in demand for other purposes, and too expensive. 
In those parts of the country where there are tanneries, 
spent fanner’s bai-k may be easily and cheaply obtained, 
but it should be dry before it be introduced into the hol¬ 
low walls of an ice-house. In all parts of the country, 
straw is most readily procured, and at the least expense. 
In the southern states, rice chaff is plentiful and cheap, 
and well adapted to the purpose. 
An under ground ice-house is most usually raised two 
or three feet above the surface, and banked up with 
earth, sloping from the building to carry off the water 
descending from the roof in rainy weather. If not on a 
northern slope or exposure, it should be where there is 
a.free circulation of air, or under the shade of a tree. 
The roof may be thatched with rye straw, as one of the 
best materials to prevent the heat of the sun from pene¬ 
trating into the building. ^ On the sea coast, the long salt 
gz-ass called sedge, may be substituted, and in the interior 
and western states, the tall prairie grass will answer the 
same pui-pose. If there be a board or shingle roof, it 
should be covered with tin, or, be painted white, or be 
whitewashed with lime, that the heat and rays of the sun 
may be reflected from, it by the white surface, and not 
penetrate the roof. 
As there must be an entrance, it should be on the 
northerly side, and as it will necessarily be opened to 
procure the daily supply of ice in summer, heat from the 
surrounding atmosphere will consequently be admitted 
notwithstanding the utmost precautions, and this heat be¬ 
ing confined when the door is shut will rapidly melt the 
ice. Hence to obviate this difficulty, there should be 
small openings at opposite ends, that the air may draw 
through and diminish the heat over the ice. A small 
wooden chimney or ventilator, in addition, would still 
further protect the ice from smelting. The chimney 
should have a cap to shed the falling rain. These are 
small affairs, but necessary, since in all undertakings the 
details must be understoozi, and carried out in practice, 
to insure success. 
In the southern states, where the ground is low, and 
where the heat of summer i? greater and longer continu¬ 
ed than it is here, an ice-house would be more advanta¬ 
geously constructed above gi-ound, on a side hill, where 
it can have an under ground drain, with a cool and sha¬ 
dy exposure. There, or in any other paid of the coun¬ 
try, it may be built of rough timber, like a log house, 
made double, with a space of eighteeh or twenty inches 
between the walls. This space to be filled with dry 
straw, rice chaff, or diy tanner’s bark, packed down with 
the feet or a pounder. The space between the cross 
logs should also be stuffed with straw. 
A layer of sand or gravel, eight or ten inches thick, 
should cover the bottom of an ice-house above ground. 
On the sand, place any rough pieces of timber, and cross 
them with others, that they may be raised ten or twelve 
inches above the sandy bottom. Then make a layer of 
pine or cedar limbs, and smooth off with straw, upon 
which the ice may be laid. Roof the building with rye 
straw or long grass, and dig a trench on the sides to car¬ 
ry off the falling rain water. 
An ice-house above ground, should be larger than one 
under ground, as the heat of the atmosphere whatever it 
may be, in any given place, is greater than the temper¬ 
ature of the earth eight or ten feet beneath the surface. 
The greater the bulk of the cold body, the longer it will 
be before the heat above or below the surface, pene¬ 
trates it. An ice-house on the surface, should also 
have thicker walls, and a greater body of straw, tan, or 
other slow conductor of heat, between the ice and ex¬ 
ternal air. Hence such a building should not be less 
than eighteen or twenty feet square on the ground, and 
the body of ice within it, ten or twelve feet thick. The 
upper surface in all ice-houses, should also be covered 
with straw. 
In filling an ice-house during the winter, the cakes 
should be laid close, and the crevices filled with snow or 
pounded ice, to exclude air as much as possible. Some¬ 
times ice is porous and filled with small air holes,which 
with returning summer enlarge by expansion of the air 
within, and become cavities of water. That these may 
buz-st and the water exude before the quantity becomes 
large, it is thought to be advisable by some, to set the 
cakes on their edges. At the end of a day’s labor in 
filling an ice-house, clean water may be thrown on the 
surface, which, freezing, helps to fill up the crevices in 
the ice, and to make it a compact body. 
The foregoing remarks and directions will enable any 
discreet person to construct or build an ice-house in any 
part of the country where desirable, that will hold ice 
through the summer. The writer had one built under 
ground, on Staten Island,,in 1840, about ten feet square, 
which held ice duringthe summer ofl84l. Itwasroofezl 
with boards and whitewashed. The labor and materials 
in constructing it, cost about twenty dollars. The win¬ 
ter of 1841-2, was so mild in this region, that ice cozild 
not be procured to fill it. Richmond. 
Oakland Farm, Staten Island, March 20, 1843. 
P. S. In my communication to Solon Robinson, in the 
March No. of the Cultivator, page 50, the latitude of my 
residence was given to show that it was nearly in the 
same parallel with Lake county, in Indiana, where your 
valtzable correspondent resides, and that the difference 
in farming, east and west, diil not az'ise from difference 
of latitude. In the printed letter there is an error of ten 
degrees, arising from a typographical error, or a mistake 
in copying the manuscript. It should have been lat. 40°, 
30', N. 
In the February No., your correspondent Wm. Par¬ 
tridge, has called attention to the cultivation of the swamp 
willow, which is successfully raised in Richmond coun¬ 
ty. As the season advances, and I can have an opportu¬ 
nity to visit the owner of the plantation of willows, you 
may expect some information on the subject for a future 
number of your highly useful periodical. At present, 
the roads are blocked up with snow drifts from the late 
equinoctial storm, and unusual occurrence in these parts 
at this time of the year. R* 
