876 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[October, 
Ice-House and Cool-Chamber, 
The principal requisites for an ice-house with 
a cool chamber below it for milk or fruit are, 
a locality 
-X— J - .h- E l AX—JLff_ifylMi where the 
ice can be 
convenient¬ 
ly placed in 
the upper 
part, and 
where there 
is drainage 
to carry off 
the waste 
from the 
ice. A hill¬ 
side is the 
, most conve- 
ment posi¬ 
tion for such a house. The method of con¬ 
struction is the same as for any other ice-house, 
excepting in the floor. The walls are double, 
and are filled in between them with sawdust 
or other non-conducting material. The roof 
should be 
•M* to to. « , -'ATO.7J -* gBcg 
eaves so as 
to shade the 
walls as 
much as 
possible, 
and it will 
he found 
c o nvenient 
to have a 
porch a- 
round the 
building, on 
a level with 
the floor of 
the ice-house. The floor of the ice-house 
must be made not only water-tight, but air¬ 
tight. If a current of air can by any means 
be established through the floor of the house, 
the ice will melt away in a very short time. 
A double floor of matched boards tarred at 
the joints, and between the floors, should 
be laid. The joists axe placed so that the floor 
Fig. 2.—MR. RANKIN’S COOL-ROOM. 
of a pipe with an curve in it, to prevent 
access of air. Or the pipe may be brought 
down through the lower chamber, and made to 
discharge into a cistern, in which the water is 
kept always a few inches above the level at 
which it is discharged from the pipe. The 
method of this arrangement of the floor is 
shown at fig. 1, which represents a section 
through the floor and lower chamber, in which 
the shelves are seen. Fig. 2 shows the patent¬ 
ed arrangement of Mr. Rankin, of Denison, 
Texas, and Emporia, Kansas, which he has 
adapted to the refrigerator cars, in which fresh 
beef is brought from Texas to the Eastern 
markets. Although this is patented, Mr. Ran¬ 
kin makes no charge for the use of it, except 
the nominal one of one dollar for each ice¬ 
house, and it is therefore practically public 
property. The ceiling of the lower chamber is 
made to slope, as shown in fig. 2, and may be 
covered with sheet zinc. Above the ceiling 
there is the usual non-conducting layer, and a 
floor sustained by the usual joists upon which 
the ice is packed. The coldness of the ceiling 
causes the moisture of the lower room to con¬ 
dense upon it. This moisture runs down the 
slope, and drops into troughs or gutters of zinc, 
which are suspended beneath it. From these 
it is carried off into the cistern, which collects 
the waste water from the ice above. 
Such cool chambers as either of these may 
be used to preserve fruit, meat, vegetables, or 
other perishable matters. Some ventilation and 
circulation of air in them is necessary to pre¬ 
vent mould or mildew, and it would be prefer¬ 
able to build the lower story of brick or stone 
rather than of wood. The upper part of the 
building could be built of wood as well as of 
any other material. A temperature of 40 de¬ 
grees has been maintained in such a chamber 
throughout the summer, but this can only he 
done where the soil is very dry and gravelly. 
The elevation of the building is shown in fig. 3. 
A Large Underground Cistern. 
Fig. 3.— ELEVATION OF IOE-HOUSE. 
slopes from both sides to the center, to collect 
the waste water from the ice ; a channel is made 
along the center to carry it to the side of the 
building, where it is made to pass off by means 
The supply of water needed for a stock 
farm is very large. One large cistern may he 
built for much less 
than several small 
ones of no greater to¬ 
tal capacity. A cor¬ 
respondent sends us a 
description of his cis¬ 
tern, which holds 
nearly 30,000 gallons, 
or over 700 barrels of 
water. This cistern, 
which we here illus¬ 
trate, is 20 feet in di¬ 
ameter, and 12 feet 
deep. It is lined with 
brick set in cement, 
and is arched with 
brick, and covered 
with earth to keep 
the water cool. That 
the spread in the arch 
may be reduced, there 
is a brick column in 
the center from which 
the arch is made to 
spring all around. 
The engraving shows 
a section through the middle of the cistern, with 
the pillar in the center of it. The central 
pillar needs to be well and substantially built, 
as it supports half the weight of the arch and 
covering. It should be at least two and a half 
bricks thick, and square. The cistern here re¬ 
presented, is situated upon the highest ground 
of the farm, and is supplied from a well by 
means of a windmill and force pump. The 
SECTION OF CISTERN. 
water is brought in pipes by its own gravity, 
to the house, stables, and garden, and in sea¬ 
sons of drouth is used to irrigate the garden. 
There are many conveniences in all this, which 
make it a very desirable cistern, and its real 
value on a farm is much greater than its cost. 
A Safe Tether, or Picket Pin. 
The disuse of fences either in whole or in 
part, renders a secure method of tethering an 
animal of great use. Stakes are easily loosened 
or battered to pieces by driving them, and the 
tethering rope is frequently wound around 
them. If a strong iron rod be bent into the shape 
of a corkscrew, with a loop at the upper end, 
it may be screwed into the ground, and will 
then hold the strongest animal safely, while the 
rope cannot be wound around it. This imple¬ 
ment will also answer the purpose of a post to 
hold guy ropes for shears, or any other similar 
purpose, or to fasten the lower block of hay 
hoisting tackle, when working with the hay 
fork. Indeed there are many uses for this 
little contrivance, which will suggest them¬ 
selves, The illustration represents it as fixed 
in the ground. One of its advantages, and not 
the least of them, is that it is readily set in 
place, and as readily removed, without the 
use of a hammer to drive it or knock it loose. 
A short stout stick like an auger handle put 
through the loop, is all that is needed. 
The Barn Sheet. 
The Barn Sheet is a very useful thing to have 
in every barn. Every harvest it will save more 
than its cost in grain, that would otherwise be 
scattered upon the field or the barn floor, and 
go to waste. When loading oats or buckwheat 
especially, the saving of shelled grain, by hav¬ 
ing the sheet in the bottom of the wagon, is of¬ 
ten equal to the amount of the seed. It is also 
useful to spread over a load of hay or grain 
that may be caught in a sudden shower, or over 
