ice;  its  collection,  storage  and  distribution.  219 
mon  pitchfork,  and  may  be  used  for  more  than  one  filling  of  the 
house.  The  objection  to  hay  or  straw  is  that  it  is  liable  to  decay, 
and  becomes  musty.  Sawdust  is  disagreeable,  from  constantly 
sifting  down  and  covering  the  cakes  of  the  successive  tiers,  as  the 
upper  ones  are  removed. 
One  mode  of  raising  the  ice  from  the  water,  which  is  considera- 
bly practised,  is  by  means  of  a  steam  engine  operating  a  species 
of  endless  chain.  One  ice  house,  situated  at  the  head  of  naviga- 
tion on  the  Saco  River,  has  this  apparatus,  raising  the  c^kes  to 
the  top  of  an  inclined  plane,  and  sending  them  down  another,  of 
half  a  mile  in  length,  to  the  house.  It  is  somewhat  interesting 
to  note  the  cakes  ascending  the  slip,  and  then  starting  off,  as  it 
were,  automatically,  on  their  travels  for  the  ice  house.  As  they 
reach  the  final  incline  they  encounter  the  provisions  made  for 
checking  their  momentum.  These  consist  of  a  series  of  heavy 
planks,  one  end  of  which  is  suspended  above  the  track,  and  the 
other  rests  upon  it.  As  the  cakes  of  ice  come  rushing  down  the 
incline,  they  pass  under  the  suspended  end  of  the  plank,  and 
meet  the  other  end,  which  must  be  lifted  before  they  can  pass. 
So  great  is  the  momentum  they  acquire,  that  three  of  such  checks 
are  scarcely  sufficient  to  arrest  their  motion,  and  as  they  enter 
the  house  they  meet  another  plank  arranged  in  the  same  way, 
but  with  the  addition  of  a  long  lever,  operated  by  two  men.  The 
ice  enters  the  house  at  the  middle  of  the  side  of  the  first  sec- 
tion, and  the  momentum  remaining,  after  passing  three  of  the 
planks,  is  sufficient  to  carry  it  through  four  sections  of  the  house 
into  the  fifth,  a  distance  of  over  two  hundred  feet.  Neither  time 
nor  space  will  admit  of  details  as  to  the  ingenious  arrangements 
for  turning  it  to  the  right  or  left  in  all  the  sections,  but  the  whole 
thing  is  so  arranged  that  the  cakes  are  under  complete  control, 
and  with  ordinary  care  no  accident  need  occur. 
The  houses  being  filled,  the  proprietors  await  the  summer  de- 
mand for  their  commodity,  or  else  proceed  at  once  to  load  up  for 
tropical  markets.  The  ice  which  is  stored  commences  to  melt  at 
the  upper  tier,  and  here  is  where  the  greatest  waste  occurs.  The 
resulting  water,  percolating  through  the  interstices  of  the  ice, 
reaches  the  lower  tiers,  and,  finding  a  temperature  below  its 
freezing  point,  congeals  again,  cementing  the  cakes  together  in 
