The star. (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1874-1875, 1875-02-15

Every farmer who has an ice-house Is,
or ought " be, by this time engaged in
filing II. There Is no trouble this year
aboutice. The crop is abundant and oil
the finest quality, and win keep as long
as you please with proper storage. AS
we have annually remarked before, you
may buIid Thousand dollar ice-house
which will not keep ice till the Fourth OF
July, or you may build enc for almost
nothing which will keep j. perfectly till
winter comes round again. The thou
sand dollars referred to are not OF them.
selves Objectionable, only ia the case oi
the worthless ice-house they are misap-
applied. Assuming that amy one who
has not his house all ready tor filling will
at this date prefer q cheap and make.
shift plan of construction, we can assure
him that such a plan may be carried out
with complete success. Select a place
where the drainage is perfect, The crest
OF u gravelly knoll Is perhaps the best,
but any knoll or slope win do If conform
alton and quality are such that surface
water will not stand. A house ten ieet
square and US many high will hold enough
ice for an ordinary family. Lay down,
therefore, u platform of rails or scant-
ling, or poles, about ten feet square, cover
it with saW-dust or bran or leaves or cui-
feed, with anything, indeed, OF This ma
.ture, anu upon this build up solid cube
of ice, filling up the interstices with
pounded ice, ard making the whole mass
as solid as possible. A.,., .e.Lt,. ..... .. La.
Ii the cold can be depended upon 1t is
we'll TO pour water over the ice, so that
it will freeze and make it absolutely
solid. Around the ice and at u distance
of at least eighteen inches from 1t are
the walls. These may be built up as the
successive layers OF ice are laid down or
after the whole cube is in position, or
they may be standing and ready to re-
ceive the ice. In any case the space be-
tween the walls and the ice is 10 be
packed with saw-dust or whatever ma
packs itself, but whatever is used must
be packed as closely aspossible. Cover
the top OF the ice at least u foot deep with
the same material, and place over it a
roof of some sort which will she'd rain
1t makes little difference whether the
roof is tight at the gables or under the
caves. Indeed free ventilation is highly
important, 80 it had better not be too
tight. The walls may be made of any
thing that Will keep the packing III posi-
ton. We have known house built up
with rails laid "cob-lashion' serve ex-
cellently as an ice.house. 1t Is well to
bank up the earth around the outside OF
the house, to prevent all inward and up
ward draught. If this Is done, the i'm.
portance nf q porous soil to carry of the
water which must to a greater or less
extent drain from the ice Is perfectly OBJ
vious. Such are the general principles
which should govern the construction OF
an ice-house, however costly and how
ever cheap. We have purposely said
nothing about a door. The more door
there is the less likely is the ice to keep.
The very best place for it is the north
gable, opening above the top-layer Oh ice.
When the ice gets low in the latter part
OF the summer this is triile inconven,
lent, but 1T is better than to have it mel
and run off as it nsay do II too much dool
is attempted with small outlay of money