Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1868-12-23

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 enterprisine
householders or wealthy men thought
Of such q luxury as an ice house. Yet
as ice has slid out of the category o.
luxuries and become a comfort, if not q
necessity, is within the power of all
living in, the country and having access
to pond or a stream to provide them
selves and possibly their neighbors with
sufficient supply of this comfort to as.
sist in preserving perishable articles and
to temper their beverage Of water. In
cities and large towns men singly or in
companies undertake to provide the
dwellers with ice, q. 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 inconve-
nient. 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
expensive structure. 1t may be built
cheaply, subserve its objects excellently,
and add to the attractions Of home
stead by being a slightly object. A
building Of twelve feet square and eight
or nine feet high is sufficient for the
wants of the most exacting family: Ii
may be a frame building, entirely above
the surface of the ground, and better if
supported 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
outer she'll, with a solid floor of plank,
the space between the two walls filled
with tan, sawdust, straw, or chaf, 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 uprights, between d loose
flooring and the pitch of the roof, filled
with straw, hay, or some similar 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 the 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 building in
one, or at most, two days, which if taste
and judgement is used will prove to be
a slightly addition to the attractions of
a country home, and useful adjunct
to the farm, its contents being conve-
nient and comforting in health and in
valuable in sickness. Such an ice house
would prove also convenient as re-
frigerator on large scale, preserving
food of various kinds and the products
of the dairy.-Scientyfc american.