ROCHESTER, N. Y.-FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 1866 
ESTABLISHED IN 1850 
Description.—A, back post, rounded above, 
ground to admit the hinge, H; B, bar at top, 3 
by 6 at large end, and tapering to 3 by 3; C, 
post; D. brace; E, E, E, boards; F, upright 
brace; G, upper hinge; H, lower hinge; M, N, 
posts; K, stick of timber below ground to pre¬ 
vent posts from sagging. The upper hinge, G, 
is simply a straight bar of iron, one inch round, 
setting firmly in the top of the post, and going 
two-thirds through the upper bar of the gate. 
The hinge end stile tenon tods down through 
the bottom rail ‘l by 8 inches, and furred out 
flush with the edge of the rail to receive the 
bottom board — or the bottom board may be 
dispensed with and the pickets extend to the 
bottom of gate, 
The brace is toed in on top of lower rail 
against hinge stile, and the top rail against the 
latch stile; pickets nailed to rails and brace, of 
any desired length and width and distance apart. 
Fastened by a mortice in the latch post,—a 
bevel each side c>f the post to shove the wooden 
latch back as the gate is opened eith-r way, and 
then, by a chain to which it is suspended, its 
own weight forces it into the mortice, or in 
place of a chain a wooden spring causes it to 
catch. The posts are of oak timber about 10 to 
18 inches diameter, the hinge post cut down to 
0 Inches, and a square shoulder lea for the 
concave end of the bottom rail to rest against, 
and upon, which forms the lower hinge. A 2 
inch centre is left at the top of the same post to 
pass through the upper rail forming the hinge, 
which completes the Gate 'and .fixtures with no 
iron, excepting about 1 lb. of nails. 
My posts are from trees that had been girdled, 
and were dry when cut, and a lasting kind of 
oak; and with the preserving qualities of the 
salted (/nan: used to keep them in “ running 
order,” no marks of decay exist, and but little 
appearance of wear from daily nse for 18 to 14 
years. 
The best material for filling the ice-house is 
clear, solid, thick blocks of ice, of as large sir.e 
as can be conveniently handled, and taken from 
the purest water. Many fanners might con¬ 
struct dams near springs or streams, on their 
premises, and thus save tedious and expensive 
hauling from a distance, lec-houses have been 
successfully tilled by conducting into them a jet 
of water, In the form of spray, during weather 
so extremely cold that it, would congeal the 
fluid into a solid mass as fiist as it fell. In other 
cases pure snow lias been used, which, being 
well compacted, lasted through the entire warm 
season. 
Ice-houses are constructed of various forms, 
and of course there is a large range in their cost¬ 
liness. The principles of construction are 
simple, and essentially the same in all good ones. 
For a larmer’B ordinary use t A or twelve feet 
square of storage room is sufficient. It would 
not be economy to build.smaller, as a certain 
bulk of ice together is one essential condition of 
its long keeping. Two other very important 
requisites are thorough drainage! underneath and 
free ventilation around and above the packing 
which encloses the ice. Beware of placing the 
Ice uext to the wall if it be of wood, stone or 
brick. Some absorbativo material, like straw, 
tan-bark or sawdust, should be between the Ice 
and wall, and outside of this a space of air. If 
just as convenient we would prefer placing the 
ice-house under a shade tree, that it might be 
protected from the rays of the sun. We would 
place the ice entirely above, ground, unless wo 
built in a side-bill, in which case we would dig 
down only until the foundation was leveled. 
If you have no ice-house, honest farmer, and 
yet are desirous of having a supply of this 
cheap luxury during the ensuing' summer, we 
think you can secure it. in the following 
mannerSelect a dry and nearly level spot, a 
rod square, and floor it six inches deep with 
stone. Cover these to the depth of a foot and a 
half with sawdust. Next procure good, sound 
Ice, and lay up a 9olld ten foot, square, eight feet 
high, on the center of this bed of sawdust. In 
the meantime have some boards and scantling on 
the ground, and as soon as the block of ice is 
finished proceed to enclose it. Make a frame 
t welve feet and three inches square, and eleven 
feet high. Set three st uds three inches wide on 
each side between the comer posts. Then 
board it up tight on the outside, and as you 
board up nail lath on the inside of the studs. 
This will leave a foot space all around between 
the ice and the lath, and as you board up fill 
this space with clean rye or wheat straw, pressed 
in tightly. When you get to the top of the 
frame pack the straw all over the ice ami nail on 
some boards; then put on a steep roof of 
boards. Now you will have your ice packed on 
a stone and sawdust bottom, surrounded by a 
foot ol* straw on each side, and three feet on the 
top. Outside of the straw, between the lath and 
the siding, will be three inches space of air, 
connected with the space under the roof. Now 
bore some holes in the siding all round the bot¬ 
tom, put a ventilator on the roof, cut a door .in 
one side, and yonr ice-bonse will be completed. 
expense to correspond. The elevation is simple 
in design and detail, yet presents an attractive 
appearance. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AS ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
RURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With n CorpH of Able A»»Ii>tant« and Contributors. 
HENRY S. RANDALL, LL, D., 
Editor of the Department of Sheep Husbandry, 
C2T* For Teems and other particulars see last page. 
KEEPING FARM ACCOUNTS, 
We cannot too earnestly urge upon farmers 
the value and necessity of keeping accurate and 
systematic farm accounts. Those already In the 
habit of doing so, are aware of the advantages 
they derive, and are not likely to cease their labor 
in this direction; and if that class which has 
hitherto neglected this part of farm economy, 
will only give it a thorough trial for one year, wc 
doubt not but they will continue it afterward. 
Numerous books or a complicated system of ac¬ 
counts are unnecessary. Various methods arc 
recommended by practical men, and many have 
been published in former volumes of the Rural. 
It is not a difficult matter for oue to devise a 
method adapted to his owu wants and circum¬ 
stances. In this brief article we will only direct 
attention to a few points. 
The desirable results to achieve by keeping 
accounts, arc to show at the close of each year 
exactly the whole amount the farmer has made 
by his operations, and to exhibit, also, the profit 
afforded by each separate crop, class of stock, or 
individual farming enterprise. The advantageof 
the first i3 obvious —of the second to teach the 
farmer what crops are most profitable, what en¬ 
terprises fail, what stock pays best, and wherein 
he may amend bis course to make it more syste¬ 
matic and remunerative. 
The commencement of the year is an excellent 
time for beginning a system of farm accounts. 
The first step should be to tuke an Inventory. 
Estimate as near as possible the cash value of the 
stock, tools, grain crops on the ground; In short, 
all the personal property employed in carrying 
on your farming. By repeating this process next 
year at the same time, you will learn how much 
you have gained or lost in this kind of property. 
Notbiug will prove more satisfactory or advan¬ 
tageous than to keep a comprehensive diary. 
Make it show a daily record of all farm opera¬ 
tions; the number of men and tcatna «* u-m-L- 
THE ROBINSON FARM GATE. 
This is the axis, while the lower hinge, II, is a 
piece of plank firmly fastened to the gate, and 
turning on the post. The posts, M and N, and 
the braces, D and F, arc framed Into the upper 
bar, B, while the boards, E, E, E, arc framed into 
the posts, M and N, and nailed to the braces. 
This gate was invented by Dr. Dan’l A. Robin¬ 
son, of Union Springs, Cayuga Co., N. Y. Is 
not patented, recommends itself by its strength 
and simplicity, and is not easily affected by the 
weather, as there is no joint exposed. 
NOTES AND EXTRACTS FROM READING, 
Ice-IIouse — Elevation. 
The ground plan, (figure 8,) includes the Ice- 
Room, (A,) with a small Cooling-Room, (B,) 
attached for the purpose of keeping meats, 
fruits, milk, butter, <&c. A house can be built 
on this plan of any size required to suit the 
wants of the owner. The two essential points 
to be kept in view in the construction of an 
icc-bouse arc—first, a perfect inciosure of the 
space to be occupied by the ice, with walls and 
floors which shall be non-conductors of heat: 
and second—a perfect drainage. The walls or 
sides should be made in two thicknesses, of 
inch matched lumber, the space or vacuum 
between which should uot be less than 18 
inches, filled with tan-bark, saw-dust or short 
shavings, whichever can be most easily obtuined. 
Permanence of Crops. 
A simple law of nature regulates the perma¬ 
nence of agricultural produce. If the amount 
of produce is iu proportion to the surface pre¬ 
sented by the sum total of nutritive substances 
In the soli, the permanetu:e of the crops will 
depend npon the maintenance of that propor¬ 
tion. This law of compensation, the replace¬ 
ment of nutritive substances which the crops 
have carried away from the soil, is the founda¬ 
tion of rational husbandry, nud must, above 
all things, be kept in view by the practical 
farmer. He may renounce the hope of making 
his land more fruitful than It. is by nature, but 
he cannot, expect.to keep bis harvests up to 
their average If be allows the necessary condi¬ 
tions for them to diminish in bis laud. 
TUE CHEAPEST FARM GATE. 
The plan of this gate can be comprehended at 
a glance, and uuy farmer with a few of the most 
common carpenter tools and a little ingenuity 
can construct it. Though not so convenient to 
open and shut as others, yet it can easily be 
made strong and durable. For passage ways 
that are seldom used it would answer well. It. is 
the invention of Mr. D. T. Campbell, this State. 
The top rail, if oak, should be about 1 J.<j 
inches thick ; if soft timber, 8 or '2)4 would be 
better, and 1 foot longer than the gate. The 
slats to nail boards to, about 4 feet in leugtb, or 
any length which may be desirable. The gate is 
held in position by iron bolts driven through a 
6mall auger bole in the top rail Into the post, so 
that the gate can be lifted off one bolt, or pin, 
and held by the other while carrying it around 
or opening. 
Poor Husbandry Destroys Nations. • 
No intelligent man who contemplates the 
present state of agriculture with an unbiased 
mind, can remain iu doubt, even for a moment, 
us to the stage which husbandry has reached in 
Europe. Wo find that all countries and regions 
of the earth where man has omitted to restore to 
the land the conditions of its continued fertility, 
after having attained the culminating period of 
the greatest density of population, fall into a 
state of barrenness and desolation. Historians 
are wont to attribute tbe decay of nations to 
political events and social causes. These may, 
indeed, have contributed greatly to the result; 
but we may well ask whether some far deeper 
cause, not easily recognized by historians, 
has not produced these events in the lives of 
nations, and whether most, of the exterminating 
wars between different races may not have 
sprung from the inexorable law of self- 
preservation. Nations, like men, pass from 
youth to age, and then die out—so it may appear 
to the superficial observer; but if we look at the 
matter a little more closely, we shall find that, 
as the conditions for tbe continuance of tbe 
human nice which nature has placed in tbe 
ground are very limited and readily exhausted, 
the nations that, have disappeared from the 
earth have dug their own graves by not knowing 
bow to preserve those conditions. Nations 
(like China and Japan,) who kuow how to pre¬ 
serve these conditions of life do not. die out. 
ORIGINAL FLAN OF AN ICE-HOUSE. 
After writing the above we applied to Mr. 
A. J. Warner, an accomplished Architect, of 
this city, for a plan of an Ice-House. Mr. W. 
very kindly and readily furnished us the follow¬ 
ing design and description: 
Fig. 3 —Transverse Section. 
The exterior can be sided or ceiled on tbe 
matched boarding; either will make a neat 
finish. Roof to be boarded and shingled. The 
underside of rafters should be cross-furrowed 
and ceiled with inch matched boards, and a ven¬ 
tilator put on the top to take off the heat confined 
in the space between rafters—and a ventilating 
window (D, in figure 3,) put in one gable end over 
tbe ice-room, and a small door at the other end, 
over the main entrance, as shown in elevation. 
The doors should be in two thicknesses of inch 
planed and matched lumber, put G inches apart, 
and the vacuum filled with saw-dust or short 
shavings. The jambs and edges of door should 
be splayed or beveled as shown in figure 2. 
The floor or bottom of this ice-house is made 
as follows: — Fill iu to a thickness of 12 inches, 
with 6tone chips, grouted with water lime and 
made on an incline of 1 inch to a foot from the 
center, (as shown at B, in figure 3,) —and con¬ 
struct a 4-inch tile, brick or stone drain a 
sufficient distance from the bouse, with a water 
trap in same, as shown in the diagram of trans¬ 
verse section,— figure 3, letter C. 
THE NINE SHILLING GATE. 
The plan of this gate is furnished to the 
Rural by an old contributor. His description 
and the engraving make it sufficiently plain. 
He writes as follows: 
I am so much gratified with your kindness 
in exhibiting, and the good qualities of your 
“ Ne Plus Ultra,” that I take a. few moments 
this eve to compare it with my old “ nine shil¬ 
ling” gates that have been on duty from 12 to 14 
years without any repairs—a 3 inch oak plank 
12 feet long, and 14 inches wide, made my oldest 
gate frame, and there was lumber left. 
— Length of top rail 18 feet; bottom rail 
about 11; each 0 Inches at the wide or hinge 
end, and *214 at latch end; braee 2 by 8, and 
stiles 3 by 2; the rails framed into the latch end 
stile, and the hinge end stile framed into the 
rails—both stiles naming below the bottom nil 
as far as the desired width of the bottom board. 
ABOUT FARM GATES.—No. II. 
We continue the subject of Farm Gates by 
presenting to the readers of the Rural a de¬ 
scription anl engraving of the HobluMm Farm 
Gate, We think, however, there is one error 
made in the plan of this gate. There need be no 
brace in frout of the center-post, F, as it only 
adds to the weight, where a burden is likely to 
cause it to sag. without increasing the strength 
of the gate. The brace in the rear of tbe centre- 
post should be set at a sharper angle—at least 
forty-five degrees, This principle will hold 
good in the construction of all gates. 
THE ICE HOUSE, AND HOW TO FILL IT 
We are reminded by tbe coldness of tbe 
weather (thermometer marks some degrees 
below zero,) that the season for gathering the 
winter harvest of ice is approaching. This lux¬ 
ury for the summer is so easily and cheaply 
obtained, that no farmer should consider his 
buildings complete, unless they include a well- 
constructed and commodious ice-house. As we 
Dave heretofore illustrated and described at 
length the ice-house and method of tilling it, we 
will now only offer some timely hints on the 
subject. 
Fig. 2.—Ground Plan. 
Tbe accompanying Plan for an Ice-House 
will meet the wants of many, as it can be con¬ 
structed on a large or small scale, and at an 
j, 
N jit 
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life— . ■ 
