1186 
SS^e RURAL NLW-YORKLR 
October 19, 1918 
Farm Mechanics 
Icehouse in Maryland 
I am going to build an icehouse and 
cold storage. How can I build one to 
keep the ice and have a small room in¬ 
side for cold storage? I have the lumber 
sawed for a house 12x20. How should it 
be built? E. L M. 
Frederick Co., Md. 
There are two conditions needed for 
the preservation of ice, the absolute ex¬ 
clusion of the air below and at the sides 
of the ice and ventilation above. I have 
seen ice kept in Virginia in a pen without 
roof, merely an open pen of boards, the 
ice being packed on a bed of sawdust, 
and with a foot of sawdust around it 
between the ice and the sides of the pen. 
This pen kept the ice till middle of 
August. The first thing to attend to in 
the construction of an icehouse is the 
drainage and the cutting out of the ac¬ 
cess of air below; a cement floor eloping 
to a centr'al drain, screened to keep out 
trash, and a drain pipe trapped to pre¬ 
vent access of air to the ice. Then if the 
walls are tightly sheathed inside and cov¬ 
ered with paper and weatherboarded out¬ 
side, the double pitched roof may be left 
with ventilators in each gable. Of 
course, this means a house above ground. 
make quite a difference to the warmth of 
the room, especially during a cold, windy 
day. No one need hesitate about a fire¬ 
place making the house colder, a.s when 
in use it is just the opposite, and'when 
not in u.se can be closed as above. 
On a farm the fireplace should be large 
enough to accommodate good-si’’ed chunks, 
stump.s, and such material, rather than 
the little stingy affairs on<' sees in the 
city or towns, where coal is used, or 
where they are put in for looks and they 
have to take a few little sticks and start 
a fire away in back for fear it will smoke. 
Look out for the proper proportions in 
size of flue and mouth or opening to fire¬ 
place, so fire can be built almost on the 
hearth, without smoking, in.stead,of being 
forced to have it clear back. 
It will pay, just for health, to build an 
open fireplace, but the comfort and satis¬ 
faction, and actual saving of fuel during 
a large part of the year when a little fire 
is necessary and one does not want to 
start the furnace, should be a good rea¬ 
son for recommending the use of fire¬ 
places, instead of trying to get people not 
to use them, to save fuel, as the Fuel 
Administration mistakenly did the past 
Winter. There would be exceptions, of 
course. The busy man who spends part 
of his evening by the open fireplace, just 
watching the fire burn, gains strength and 
quiet rest for the next day, quite as much 
or .more than the time spent in other 
ways, and the older one gets the more he 
dislikes to leave it for other places. 
I. c. B. 
. Window Seat 
The handie.st feature about my friend’s 
cozy little home is a collection of window 
seats all the way around the living room. 
Every window has a spacious and com- 
A Comfortable Window Seat. Fig. 577 
fortable .seat which is a hinged cover to 
a roomy box underneath. At each end 
is a. higher b(jx, the top of which serves 
for a table or stand, and the inner up¬ 
right side makes a back to the seat. These 
are finished to match the woodwork in 
the room, and each seat is provided with 
plenty of sofa pillows. 
MRS. E. -M. ANDERSON, 
Foreclosure of Mortgage 
There is a mortgage of .$1,100 on our 
farm and town property, interest payable 
half yearly. The holder of the mortgage 
.■says she wants her money. How long a 
time do we have legally to get the money 
before she can foreclose? In case we are 
unable to get the money before the time 
to foreclose, and proceedings have been 
started to foreclose, suppose we should 
deliver the cash on the day of sale of the 
property; would that satisfy the debt 
and stop the proceedings? J. K. o. 
You omitted stating when the mort¬ 
gage was due, or whether it was past due. 
If the mortgage is due, it follows as a 
matter of course that the mortgagee is 
entitled to her money. If you are un¬ 
able to make arrangements to place this 
mortgage el.sewhere, and have the subse¬ 
quent bolder of the mortgage take up the 
old mortgage and put on his own, there is 
nothing that you can do other than to 
pay the money as it becomes due. You 
can pay the amount due on the mortgage 
with the interest and costs at any time 
up to the date of actual sale; or, in other 
words, you would buy in the mortgage. 
Of course, the expenses would be large 
in proportion to the amount involved that 
you would have to pay in addition to the 
amount due to the mortgagee. 
which is far better than the old-time pit. 
In storing ice it is best to carry up saw¬ 
dust between the ice and the sides of the 
building, and cover it when filled with 
sawdust. A light roof a foot above the 
real roof, and open all around, will be 
valuable to protect the house from 
heat caused by the sun’s rays on the 
roof. Any arrangement for a separate 
cold storage would have to be made by 
elevating the ice receptacle and making 
the storage below. But anything of this 
sort will tend to the more rapid melting 
of the ice, and it is far better to use the 
ice in a refrigerator. Write to the Di¬ 
vision of Publications, Department of 
Agriculture, Washington, D. C., and ask 
for copy of Farmers’ Bulletin No. 47!5. 
This will give you full plans for the con¬ 
struction of an icehouse. 
W. F. MASSEY. 
Filtering Well Water 
We have here an artesian, well about 
150 ft. in depth and with exception of 
first 14 ft. drilled through solid rock, 
which we call iron rock, being extremely 
hard and of a ru.sty color. The water as 
it comes from the well seems very clear 
and fine, but in the tank deposits a very 
fine rusty powder which is stirred up 
when we pump in fresh water and then 
flows rusty through the pipes. The i)ipes 
are all galvanized and the water was this 
way when the system was new, so it can¬ 
not be laid to the pipes. ■ Is there any 
kind of a filter that I could use in the 
basement to filter all the water as it comes 
from the tank? The present well cost 
about .$700, and so I do not want to at¬ 
tempt to have another one drilled if I can 
overcome this difficulty. B, W. S. 
Northborough, Mass. 
It seems to me likely that the ordinary 
filters, made from successive layers of 
gravel, crushed charcoal and sand, would 
remove this sediment from your well 
water, and it may be that even less ef¬ 
fective methods would suffice. Y"ou can 
easily ascertain by experiment whether a. 
simple filter will do the woi-k or not. A 
layer of fine sand may be placed in the 
bottom of an ordinary wooden box, mak¬ 
ing provision for the exit of the w'ater 
below it, and upon this a layer of crushed 
charcoal, with one of gravel upon that. 
A pail of water poured into the top of 
the box will soon filter through and show 
whether or not it has been cleansed of the 
objectionable material. It is quite possi¬ 
ble that sand or gravel alone will suffice 
as a filter. M. b. d. 
Building an Open Fireplace 
The inquiry about open fireplace, by. 
\Y. S. B., page fill, is of intere.st, and the 
answer to the inquiry covers the matter 
very nicely, but would like to add my 
mite to the encouragcn.cnt given to put 
in an open fireplace. A fireplace backed 
by some other heating .system for very 
cold weather is about as near perfection 
as one could ask for, and during the day, 
when the open fireplace m.ay not be needed 
in a busy family, a sheet iron or other 
fireproof covering for the opening does 
away with the draft, and, we think, does 
New York ia 
theStyleCenter 
of America. 
This book 
briiiKa you the 
choice of the 
late American 
modes 
This book contains thousands 
of price reductions on articles 
you need every day. A post 
card will bring it 
< 
' 7 7 Matiyteautiftilcolcarpa^ 
The buying guide of 1,600,000 families 
A few of the 49 stores 
Boot and Shoe Store —400 styles of shoes 
for men, women and children. From $1.19 
to $6.45. 
Clothing Store —Clothine for the entire 
family. 150 pages of late styles. Popular 
New York models. Guaranteed fabrics. 
Guaranteed fit. 
Draperies and Curtains —Scrim, muslin, 
Nottingham, Irish point lace, net and voile 
curtains. From $1.00 to $7.15. 
Farm Implements, Wagons, Bussies, 
Harness —Farm tools and machinery that 
are practical, dependable and guaranteed as 
to quality. Wagons from $33.70 to $84.50. 
Harness from $8.20 to $36.35. Buggies 
$49.85 to $94.50. 
Hardware Store —A completely stocked 
modern hardware store. 
Jewelry Store —Jewelry lor gifts and for 
yourself. Precious stones, watches, brace¬ 
lets, rings, baby jewelry, service jewelry. 
Dry Goods Store —Fine linens, new dress 
materials, novelties in dress silks, beautiful 
embroidery, warm blankets. 
No matter what you want for 
house, farm or family, first 
look in this book 
If you knew an immensestorewhere 
you could get practitally anything 
you wanted for the home or the farm ; 
where you could get very low prices ; 
where you could make your money 
stretch to the utmost limit; where, 
because of convenience of location, 
you could be sure of early delivery ; 
you would certainly go to this store 
before all others. Well, 1,600,000 
families shop in such a store through 
“Your Bargain Book,” the catalog 
of The Charles William Stores. 
49 huge specialty stores 
When you sit down with the big 
Bargain Book you have before you 
the choice of the contents of eleven 
buildings crowded with new, up-to- 
date merchandise — forty-nine im¬ 
mense specialty stores. Imagine if 
you can, a 25-acre field covered with 
row after row of merchandise—more 
than 180,000 different articles. That 
is what your Bargain Book gives you. 
And that wide choice is the reason 
why 1,600,000 families constantly use 
the big Bargain Book. 
In all of their purchases they get 
the advantage of exceptionally close 
prices. For, even in these days of 
uncertain markets, we are able to offer 
you substantial savings because of 
our location in New York—America’s 
Greatest Market—and becausewebuy 
in enormous quantities — for cash. 
Guarantee of satisfaction — Re¬ 
member, everything you buy from us 
must please you thoroughly. If it 
does not, you will return it and we 
will send back all you paid for it and 
pay all transportation charges both 
ways. 
Send for this Big Bargain Book — 
it’s free 
It contains 1026 wonderfully interesting'pages. 
When the book comes, look it over carefully page 
by page. Observe particularly how wide a choice 
you have in every line of merchandise. Compare 
the prices with prices from other sources. You 
will clearly see why it will make your dollar go 
further. Send for it today. 
iam 
ores 
It taken eleven im. 
menso buildings to 
hold the merchan¬ 
dise shown on the 
pages of our free 
cuialog 
New York City 
Mail this coupon today for a free copy of 
“ Your Bargain Book" 
Name. 
Tho 
Charles Wi.Jiam Stores I 
. 52 Stores Building ’ 
^ ^ New York | 
N 
