The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-01-13
ICe.HOuSeS. .

As the time for securing the harvest of ice is
rapidly approaching, lew hints looking ice
wards may not be amiss. We remember when
the ice business was unknown; only some enter
prising householders or wealthy men thought OF
such luxury as an ice-house. Yet as ice has
slid out of the category of luxuIies and become
q comfort, If not "A necessity, II Is within the
power OF all living in the country, and having
access to a pond or a stream, to provide them
selves and possibly their neighbors with sutfi-
clent supply of this comfort TO assist III preServ-
ing perishable articles and to temper their
beverage of water. In cities and large towns,
men singly or IN companies undertake 10 provide
the dwelers with Ice, crop that costs nothing
TO plant, tend, or raise, but only to gather and
store but yields handsome returns. But IN the
country the convenience OF daily delivery of the
geld luxury is impossible and lncOnVCnient To
our country readers, therefore, some suggestions
on the construction of ice'bouses and the pre-
serVation OF ice may not be amiss.
family ice house need hot be an expensive
structure. 1t may be blilt cheaply, subserVe
It's object eXcellently and add to the attractions
of homestead by being slightly object. A
building OF twelve feet square and eight or nine
feet high is sufficient the wants OF the most
eXacting family. 1t may be frame building
entirely above the surface OF the ground and
! better ii supported on posts, elevated few
inches, to be certain OF good drainage, Built of
! joIsts, two or three inches, with an outer
! boarding, having inside another series OF
| uprights, also boarded from six to ten inches
removed from the outer shell, with a solid floor
| OF plank, the space between the two walls filled
WI tan, sawdust, straw, or chat, and root OF
| good Litch, the ice house is complete. A drain
for water should be made from the floor, and
the space above the upnghts between loose
flooring and the pitch OF the roof filled with
straw or hay, or some similar dry, porous
material On the root should be a VenLilator
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, aud the door
should be like the sides OF The building, OF
doublc doors should be made, one in the outeI
apd the other in the inner wall. Plant morning
elor!es or any climbing plant around tue
building, and induce them to creep up the walls
and over the roof as an additional deleL 81
against the iervid sun OF summer.
| Two woIkmen, ii not practical carpenters, cal
nut up such a building IN one, or at most TIVE
| days which, il taste and judgment are used, viii
proye to be a slightly addition to the attraction
Of a country home, and useful adjunct to tn
farm its contents being convenient and CON
fnrting in health and invaluable in sickness
Such au ice.house would prove also conyenien
"a a refrigerator on large scale, preserYln
food of various kinds and the products OF tn
Scientific American.