ice;  its  collection,  storage  and- distribution.  213 
houses  on  the  Hudson  more  than  a  hundred  miles  from  New 
York,  and  this  has  suggested  Sebago  lake,  fifteen  miles  from 
Portland,  a  body  of  water  of  great  purity,  containing  over  fifty 
square  miles,  as  a  source  of  ice.  But  while  the  Kennebec  re- 
mains practically  inexhaustible,  with  direct  access  to  large  ves- 
sels from  the  ocean,  the  Sebago  Lake  Ice  Bank  is, unlikely  to  be 
drawn  upon,  on  account  of  the  land  transportation  requisite  to 
render  its  discounts  available.  From  Augusta  down  to  Merry- 
meeting  Bay,  a  distance  of  more  than  twenty  miles,  a  wide  river 
affords  a  field  which  for  quantity,  quality,  and  facility  of  storage, 
is  unequalled,  considering  its  nearness  to  the  ocean.  The  Saco, 
the  Androscoggin  and  the  Machias  possess  these  same  qualities, 
but  in  a  minor  degree. 
The  past  winter  has  been  unusually  favorable  for  the  forma- 
tion of  ice  of  excellent  quality,  as  attested  by  the  magnificent 
blocks  quarried  from  the  "  crystal  mine,"  eighteen  to  twenty-four 
inches  in  thickness,  and  of  a  purity  and  hue  which  seemed  as  if 
borrowed  from  the  azure  vault  of  heaven.  Some  of  cerulean 
blue,  and  others  of  diamond  clearness  and  absence  of  color.  The 
ice  this  season  is  veritably  of  the  "first  water."  The  view  of 
the  edges  of  the'  ice  in  the  Kennebec,  along  the  shores  of  which 
the  writer  had  occasion  to  pass  several  times  during  January  and 
February,  as  it  curled  up  upon  encountering  the  resistance 
offered  by  the  banks  of  the  river  to  its  expansion,  suggested  the 
idea  of  a  fine  opportunity  to  determine,  on  a  large  scale,  the  co- 
efficient of  that  expansion  by  those  who  have  the  means  and  the 
scientific  knowledge  for  the  solution  of  such  problems.  But 
enough  of  preface. 
In  dealing  with  the  subject  on  the  present  occasion,  it  is  pro- 
posed to  offer  a  few  succinct  remarks  upon  the  mode  of  collecting 
and  storing  this  commodity,  arranging  it  on  board  ship  for  ex- 
port, leaving  the  question  of  statistics  to  a  future  opportunity. 
In  doing  this,  it  will  be  well  to  follow  the  order  of  operations  ; 
considering,  first,  ice  houses,  their  size  and  construction  ;  second, 
cutting  the  ice,  and  the  implements  used  ;  third,  storing  it,  by 
one  or  two  of  the  methods  most  employed ;  fourth,  exportation, 
including  the  preparation  of  the  ship,  and  the  stowage  of  the 
cargo,  with  such  particulars  as  may  naturally  occur  under  the 
divisions  named. 
