The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1868-12-25
CHEAP ICE HoUsEs...A GOOD PLAN.

AS the time for securing the harvest
of ice is rapidly approaching, a few
hints looking iceward may not be amiss.
We remember when the ice business
was unknown only some enterprising
householders or wealthy men thought
of such luxury as an ice house. Yet
as ice has slid out of the category OF
luxuries and become a comfort, if not a
necessity, it is within the power of all
living i'll the country and having access
to pond or stream to provide them
selves and possibly their neighbors with
sufficient supply of this comfort to as
sist in preserving perishabIe articles and
to temper their beverage of water In
cities and large towns men singly or in
companies undertake to provide the
jewellers with ice, a crop that costs
nothing to plant, tend, or raise. but only
to gather and store, but yields hand
some returns. But in the country the
convenience of daily delivery of the
geld luxury is impossible and inconyen-
lent. To our country readers, there
fore, some suggestions on the construc-
ton of ice houses and the preservation
of ice may not be amiss.
A family ice house need not be an ex-
pensive structure. 1t may be built
cheaply, subsetve its object excellently.
and add to the attractions of a home
stead by being a slightly object. A build
ing of twelve feet square and eight or
nine feet high is sufficient for the wants
of the most exacting family. 1t may be
a frame building, entirely above the sur
face of the ground, and better if sup
ported on posts, elevated few inches,
to be certain of good drainage Built
of joists, two by three inches, with an
outer boarding, having inside another
series of uprights, also boarded, from
six to ten inches removed from the ont
Ell shell, with q solid floor of plank. the
space between the two walls filed with
tan, saWdust, straw, or chaff and a roof
of good pitch, the ice house is complete
A drain for water should be made from
the floor, and the space above the up
rights, between loose flooring and the
pitch of the roof filed with straw, hay,
or some similsr dry, porous material.
On the roof should be ventilator, the
top defended from the rain or snow.
The ice should be packed in one solid
mass, the sides not reaching the inner
walls of the building, but allowing a
space of from six to twelve inches all
around. The top of the ice should be
covered with straw, and the door should
be like sides of the building, or double
doors should be made, one in the outer
and the other in the inner wall. Plant
morning glories or any climbing plant
around the building and induce them to
creep up the walls and over the roof as
an additional defence against the fervid
sun of summer.
Two workmen, if not practical car
penters, can put up such a building in
one, or at most, two days, which if taste
and Judgment is used will prove to be
slightly addition to the attractions of
country home, and useful adjunct to
the farm, its contents being convenient
and comforting in health and invalua-
BILE in sickness. Such an ice house would
prove also convenient as a refrigerator
on large scale, preserving food of va
rious kinds and the products of the
dairy.