ice;  its  collection,  storage  and  distribution.  215 
cold  air  at  the  bottom  from  rushing  out,  and  giving  up  its  place 
to  the  comparatively  warm  air  at  top,  which  would  endanger  the 
whole  stock  stored  in  the  house.  This,  with  the  requisite  doors, 
and  hoisting  and  storing  apparatus,  may  be  taken  as  the 'general 
type  of  a  well-constructed  ice  house. 
All  the  ice  houses  seen  by  the  writer  are  constructed  entirely 
above  ground ;  the  underground  construction  having  been  aban- 
doned, as  a  general  thing,  for  the  reason  that  during  the  summer 
days  the  earth  absorbs  the  heat  of  the  sun,  and  does  not  yield  it 
up  at  night,  so  that,  continually  absorbing  heat  in  this  manner, 
it  is  believed  that  the  ice  wastes  more  rapidly  by  underground 
than  above-ground  stowage.  The  writer  already  quoted,  however, 
speaks  of  an  ice  house  built  of  brick,  at  Cambridge,  Mass.,  which 
covers  36,000  square  feet  of  ground,  its  vaults  forty  feet  deep, 
and  its  walls  four  feet  thick  from  outside  to  inside,  enclosing  two 
air  spaces.  From  this  it  would  seem  that  the  question  is  still  an 
open  one. 
2.  Ice  Cutting,  and  the  Implements  employed. — When 
the  season  has  been  favorable,  and  the  ice  has  attained  the  requi- 
site thickness, — the  thicker  the  better, — the  ice  men  proceed  to 
work.  As  horse  power  is  much  employed,  and  as  ice  less  than 
five  inches  in  thickness  will  not  bear  the  weight  of  a  horse,  in  an 
open  winter  it  is  sometimes  late  before  the  ice  cutters  can  com- 
mence operations.  If  there  is  loose  snow  upon  the  surface  of  the 
ice,  this  is  removed  for  any  desired  distance  by  means  of  a  scoop, 
or  sometimes  merely  a  plank  set  on  its  edge,  which  is  shod  with 
iron.  A  space  of  sixty-six  feet  square  will  give  108  dozen 
cakes.  If  good,  clear  ice  is  reached,  the  work  of  marking  and 
cutting  commences.  If  the  surface  of  the  ice  is  in  that  granular 
condition  known  as  snow  ice,  the  ice  plane  is  required.  Previous 
to  its  use  the  hand  plow  is  run  along  one  side  of  the  space  in  a 
straight  line,  to  form  a  groove,  which  acts  as  a  point  of  depart- 
ure, and  regulates  the  motions  of  all  the  implements  subsequently 
employed  in  cutting  the  ice.  These  ice  implements  are  sufficiently 
difficult  to  describe  intelligibly  without  the  aid  of  a  drawing  ;  but 
let  us  make  the  attempt.  The  snow  scraper,  or  the  scoop,  is 
tolerably  familiar  to  all  who  have  had  to  clear  their  sidewalks 
or  streets  of  snow,  and  need  not  detain  us. 
