A Talk About Icehouses. 
Construction for Cold Country. 
Can your readers explain the best method for getting 
ice into the icehouse, using one or two horses? My 
house holds about 200 tons. G. J. A. 
Bridgewater, Mass. 
ANY of the products of the farm are of a per¬ 
ishable nature; milk, cream, butter, meat and 
fruits are all in this class, and will not stand ex- 
1 osure to heat if they are to he kept for any length 
of time. Not only is a low temperature necessary 
for their successful keeping hut in the case of most 
of them their quality is improved by cooling them 
quickly. This is especially true of the milk pro¬ 
ducts—quick cooling tending to prevent the absorp¬ 
tion of odors and the development of undesirable 
flavors. 
As ordinary well or spring water does not lower 
the temperature sufficiently, and arti¬ 
ficial refrigeration is too expensive in 
a small plant, ice remains as the only 
means of securing cold. Not only does 
an ample supply of ice help the farmer 
in handling and marketing his products, 
but it increases his comfort as well. 
Ice broadens the bill of fare, permitting 
the use of more home-killed fresh 
meats, a prolonged use of fruits and 
berries and providing a way in which 
homemade ice creams and sherbets 
may be supplied. In case of sickness 
ice is invaluable. 
Ice is the farmer’s logical means of 
securing cold. It may be likened to a 
great sponge that has been squeezed 
dry and stands ready to again absorb 
water from whatever it comes in con¬ 
tact with. In the case of ice it is 
heat that has been squeezed from it in¬ 
stead of water. Early in the Fall Na¬ 
ture sets about removing the heat from 
water and after a sufficient amount 
has been removed it becomes ice. Be¬ 
fore becoming ice however, great quan¬ 
tities of heat have to he removed and 
in melting again this heat will he re¬ 
stored to the ice. This is what makes 
it valuable as a cooling agent—the 
heat required to melt it is absorbed 
from whatever it is in contact with 
and its temperature lowered accord¬ 
ingly. Another property of ice that 
makes it valuable for cold storage 
work is the fact that in freezing it 
becomes lighter than water and re¬ 
mains at the top in a smooth even 
layer that is easily cut and stored. 
With these properties of ice in mind 
it is easy to design a shelter for it. 
The shape should approach a cube as 
closely as possible, as this shape will 
store the greatest number of these 
square cakes with the smallest amount 
of exposed surface possible and this 
exposed surface should be well pro¬ 
tected with some substance that will 
prevent the passage of heat to the ice 
within. While a well-built icehouse, 
such as the one recently described in 
these columns, is desirable, it is by 
no means necessary for the storage of 
ice. One similar to the illustration, 
made by setting down cedar posts in 
the ground and covering with a.tight 
roof, will keep the ice, but of course 
is not so handy to use. The only ex¬ 
pense here is the labor of building, 
and the shingled roof, the remainder 
of the buildings being made from 
waste material. A tight roof is essen¬ 
tial, as is also a well-drained shady 
location and plenty of insulating material. This 
can be planer shavings, sawdust, marsh hay, straw 
or even evergreen boughs. The planer shavings are 
probably best. It is usual to allow in the neighbor¬ 
hood of 50 cubic feet to the ton in small icehouse 
construction, for although a cubic foot of ice weighs 
about 58 pounds there will he a considerable amount 
of openings between the cakes and the higher esti¬ 
mate takes care of these. 
The source of ice supply is another problem. If 
there is a stream or lake within reasonable distance 
it can be hauled from there, hut when neither of 
these is present ice can often be secured on the 
farm itself by damming a small stream or impound¬ 
ing the waters of a spring. Because of the fact 
that the waters of small streams are usually in¬ 
creased in the Fall a very small stream will fill the 
purpose. Neither is a large and deep pond neces¬ 
sary—a depth sufficient to permit the use of the 
THE R URAL NEW-YORKER 
saw in cutting is all that is required. As to size, a 
ton can he cut from a space 5x7 feet in size when 
the ice is one foot in thickness—a pond with an 
effective cutting area of 20x35 feet cutting about 20 
tons. Due to the severity of our Winters one is 
almost sure of two cuttings which, of course, would 
double this amount. 
In locating the dam, place it at a point where it 
will make a broad shallow pond, not a narrow deep 
one. Ice forms only on the surface, therefore ex¬ 
posed surface is what we want—depth gets us no¬ 
where. A shallow pond of this kind may he en¬ 
larged by scraping. Probably concrete is the best 
material for a dam, although an earth embankment 
will serve if a spillway is provided to care for the 
waste water, preventing it from washing away the 
crest of the dam. The dam should also be provided 
with a gate so that the pond may be drained in 
Ice Pond on Farm of H. E. Cook. Fig. 476. 
Summer, preventing the slimy growths peculiar to 
shallow bodies of water. 
The illustration shows an artificial ice pond on 
the farm of Dean II. E. Cook, Denmark, N. Y. 
This pond supplies ice for his certified milk plant, 
and was constructed at a total cost, including labor, 
of about $200. From it about 300 tons of ice are 
taken at a cutting. This amount has not proved 
adequate for the purpose and since this photograph 
was taken the pond has been enlarged. Madison 
Cooper, an authority on cold storage, suggests 20 
tons as an amount sufficient for the average farm. 
This amount, if all could be utilized without waste, 
would lower the temperature of 190.440 pounds of 
milk from 75 degrees Fhr. to a temperature of 40 
degrees Fhr. With the storage method outlined it 
is probable that there would be a waste of at least 
50 per cent, which would reduce this amount of 
milk by one-half. 
1287 
Where so small an amount as this is to be har¬ 
vested the only special tools necessary are some 
ice tongs, the necessary saws are usually found on 
the farm. There is usually no great difficulty in 
hiring it cut from one to two cents per cake. The 
cost per ton will vary, of course, with the thickness 
and the price paid per cake, but when one foot in 
thickness it will require about 11 cakes for a ton 
and the cost will vary from 11 to 22 cents accord¬ 
ingly. Where larger houses are to he filled an ice 
plow and equipment of breaking bars will prove an 
advantage. The farmers of a neighborhood might 
combine and own them in common. 
Small amounts are usually stored without the use 
of special equipment, simply sliding the ice from the 
sled to the upper layer in the icehouse by means of 
planks. Where a larger house is to he filled an 
adjustable slide that can he raised as successive 
layers are added to the ice pile is 
used. The ice is hauled up this slide, 
one or more cakes at a time, depending 
upon the slant, by means of a specially 
shaped pair of tongs hitched to a rope 
that runs over a pulley in the back end 
of the icehouse. A horse attached to 
the other end of the rope that passes 
through a pulley near the ground 
furnishes the motive power and a light 
rope attached to the tongs provides a 
means for pulling them hack when the 
ice cake has been discharged. The 
whole arrangement is rigged similar 
to a horse fork. With this rig one 
man on the ground can pull the ice 
into the house as fast as two can pack 
it. The ice can be unloaded on a plat¬ 
form leading to the foot of this slide 
or by the use of an extra pair of sleds 
it can be unloaded directly from the 
sled. 
Where conditions permit the ice¬ 
house can be placed directly on the 
side of the pond and the ice hauled 
from the water to its place in the ice¬ 
house. In some of the larger storage 
houses gasoline hoists are used to a 
good advantage hut unless one of these 
is in use on the farm for unloading 
bay and grain the horse will prove the 
cheaper method. 
The ice crop is practically the only 
one that we are sure of from year to 
year without cultivation or seeding, 
sometimes even furnishing two cut¬ 
tings. It is Nature's means of striking 
a balance between Summer heat and 
Winter cold. It is easily and cheaply 
harvested and stored with little cost 
and trouble. Why not prepare to har¬ 
vest th.e crop this Winter and secure 
its comforts and benefits for the com¬ 
ing Summer? kohert h. smith. 
A Great Crop of Hairy Vetch. 
W E have had many reports from 
farmers who have seeded 
Hairy vetch as a cover crop. It is 
quite surprising how these reports 
vary. In a number of cases farmers 
say they will never try the vetch 
again, as it has failed to make good 
with them. In some cases it never 
made much of a start anyway. In 
others it came up, made a feeble sort 
of growth, and then faded away. 
There have been a number of com¬ 
plaints about this. On the other hand, 
some of our people have had most re¬ 
markable success with this crop, and 
are very enthusiastic about it. As 
good a report as we have had recently is the fol¬ 
lowing from Mr. Win. Barnes of Cortland Co., N. Y. 
Surely if Mr. Barnes can grow such vetch as is 
shown in Fig. 474, he has a fertilizer factory 
right on his farm, and from his appearance Mr. 
Barnes has certainly got the power in his body to 
work that factory to the limit. 
I am enclosing a picture of some Hairy vetch grown 
c:i my farm. The picture is poor of the vetch. The 
plant I took this from was seven feet three inches in 
length without roots. I had one-half acre of this— 
averaging about five to six feet in height, and also very 
rank strong vines. This was sown with oats—two 
bushels oats and one peck vetch per acre. The ground 
was plowed early and limed—about one ton of hydrated 
lime per acre. I also used 300 pounds per acre of fer¬ 
tilizer. 2—8—3. This vetch was on a spot where it 
had had no manure or fertilizer, as far as I know, for 
15 years, and has never been plowed since I can re¬ 
member. I think I had easily 2 Vj tons of oats and 
vetch on the piece. 
A &teeTne%r[ ; '? 8y Harvesting the Ice Crop. Fig. 477. 
