Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1852-07-14

. | at least applfeS; 70 WildH Judy pc SaAeu Wv
orderly ice-bouse; but tidiness and otde
do not always preside over Russian af
rangements, and in the majority of cellar
the ice is thrown carelessly in and broker
into pieces, that it may be packed away
into the corners, and that as little space al
possible may be left upc ccupled. The con
slstency and durability, Of the ice do nc. ap'
pear TO suffer from this breaking process
| on the contrary, the whole, if well packed
will soon freeze into one compact mass,
that is afterwards proof against the warmest
summer. The Russians are SO accustomed
to these ice-houses, that they are at loss
| TO understand how family can do without
them; and their housewives are In, the
greatest trouble when they think they have
not laid in sufficient supply of ice during
| the winter, or when in summer they fancy
their stock likely 20 run short. 1t may safe
| ly be estimated that the ice consumed IN
St. Petersburg during the summer, costs the
inhabitants from two to three millions OF
roubles.n That is to say, three hundred
thousand pounds 10 four hundred and nifty
thousand pounds.
Ice may be stacked-plain English ice,
or snow well beaten down into mass, alter
the Roman fashion, which answers tor all
economical purposes every bit as wcll.-
This is the mode of stacking ice or snow
which has been found to succeed most ihor-
oughly at Chatsworth- ;--in the first place,
let the owner of the dairy farm select, not
the coolest and shadiest spot, as he ineylta-
bly would do without better instruction, but
the openest and sunniest. because driest,
bit Of ground he can fnd-the SUMMER the
better. AT Chatsworth the first trials were
made in shady places, and proved tar less
satisfactory, because dry. place is requir-
ed and the dryness which the sun occa.
sions more than compensates foL the tenn:
perature of its beams. The platform hay-
inc been iudiciously selected. dig all round
# sufficient trench, which is to contain
the water that will, more or less, inevitably
drain from The completed stack let the
bank of the trench be lower on the outer
side, and, if necessary, a siphon tube may
be put in to drain off any excess. The ob.
iect Of the trench is, firstly, to prevent any
of the drainage water from spreading over
the platform; therefore to keep the plat
form dry; and secondly to preserve tins
drainage water, which is very cold ana can
be used for making butter. Then Lay over
the whole platform bed; of straw, SIX or
nine inches thick. Straw is sufficient and
convenient non.conductor, and ice wrapped
in straw is tolerably welljprotected from ex'
ternal influence Upon the straw bed make
your stack, building it with sides perffctly
upright. The sides are to be thus perpen-
dicular, in order that whatever melts may
flow at once into the trench, and not soak
into and spoil the ice which remains other,
wise unmelted. If the stack happen to:ba
long, partitions Of straw should be insei.eo
at convenient distances, for the protection
Of. one, bart while another portion is IN use:
The stack being erected in this manner,
coat round the whole outside OF It, ana
thatch it with straw defence OF eighteen.
inches thick. If you build the, stack OF snow
build M the same nunusr, but take care to
batten il well down. A stack OF ice or snow,
SO made and so defended, will remain good
through the hottest summer, and will obyi.
ale necessity for any ice-house. kemem-
her that all this will be done in mid-wlnter,
when your laborers have comparatively
nothing to do; when your horses are eating
their heads off, and your cart-tlres are ius''
ing from indleness. -
II is not only to the confectioner and dai-
~ farmer that ice is an important article.
The fishmonger, the butcher, and many
more who deal in perishable articles, should
press it into service. Ice is an effectuai
bantiseptic. How thoroughly it acts as
preservative is illustrated by the oit''old
tale of the mammoth, which made its ap-
pearance fifty years since, in. his body, as
he lived perhaps before the birth OF Adam.
"In the latter part of the summer OF lISS'
a Tunousian fsterman''--I am now quo
ting from Professor Ansteds "Anclent
World"-"A Tungusian fisherman, VINO
was IN the habit of collecting tusks tor sale
from among the blocks Of ice and rubbish
which had fallen from the cliffs, on the
banks of Lake Oncoul, near the mouth OF
The Lena river, saw projecting from the cllh
a mass of unusual form but, from its shape
less appearance, he could make nothing OF
it. The year after, proceeding to his usual
haunt, he noticed that this lump was some
what disengaged, and had two projecting
parts and, towards the end fthe summer
of 1901, when be again looked at H. ne
found it to consist of the whole side OF q
gigantic ANIMAL having large tusks, one OF
which projected from the ice. SO slowly
do changes take place In these districts
that the next summer, being rather cold, 20 9,
alteration was 10 be noted but in ioVS
part of the ice between the earth and Inc
monstrous animal was somewhat more melt,
ed than before, till the whole at length ieii
by it's own weight on bank OF sand. Mex!
vsor onr fisherman came in the month Of
| Mach and cut off the tusks, which he soon
sold for about the value Of fifty roubles. (a-
bout seven pounds, ten shilling.") Two
wears after this, in 1906, being the seventh
wear from the discovery of the carcass,
these distant and desert regions were trav-
ersed by Mr.. Adams, an employe Of the
Court Of Russia and his account Of the
rest of the history of this mammoth, the an
cient elephant of northern Europe, is as
follows sat this time found the man.
moth still IN the same place, but altogether
mutilated. The prejudices being diss,paied,,
| in consequence of the Tungusian. (who had
fallen sick with alarm on first hearlgg el
the discovery; because it was considered
a bad omen, having. recovered his health.
there was no obstacle to prevent approach
TO the carcass. The proprietor was con-
tented with his profit for the tusks ); and the
Jakutski of the neighborhood had cut offths
flesh, with which they fed their dogs. Du.
ring the scarcity, wild beast, such as white
80 rolvee wolverines. and foxes. also