Sharp County record., 1878-12-12
Probably the cheapest and

ment, if the location is sandy or gravel
subsoil, so that perfect drainage is in
sured. The latter condition is indis-
pensable to an underground ice-house.
To construct an underground ice
house of sufficient capacity to contain a
supply for the use of an ordinary farm.
er's family, hole may be sunk about
eight fect deep or 10 or II feet square.
I If the soil is sufficiently firm to prevent
caving, no wall will be needed. The
banks may be lined with rails,
poles, or boards, set upright
round the sides of the pit, and
the bottom covered also with the same
materials, or broken rock may be used
if more convenient. When the ice is
ready to be filled in, cover the floor with a
layer of straw or cOrn-fodder, few
inches in depth, and line the sides with
the same, as the ice is filled in. Cut the
ice in square pieces of convenient size
for handling and as nearly uniform as
possible, and build in solidly, filing the
crevices between the blocks of ice with
fine ice as each layer is put down. Lay
log frame around the top of this ice
pit, and erect over it tight roof with
steep pitch to shed the rain. Cast
bank up around the whole under the
caves and gables sufficient to exclude
all water. Cover the ice we'll with two
or three feet of wheat or rye straw well
tramped down, and close up tight.
Place door at the north or west end
of convenient size for entrance. 1t is
better to have double roof of boards,
with few inches vacuum between the
upper and lower. The best location for
an ice-house of this description is in a
grove under large tree, where ample
Shade will protect the roof from the
MONDAY sun.
This is one of the cheapest and most
easily constructed ice-houses that can
be made, and as an ice-preserver, is one
of the very best.
Where the subsoil is not sufficiently
porous to carry off the waste water from
the melting of the ice, the ice-house will
have to be built above ground, and the
following description of one of this kind,
furnished by correspondent of one of
our exchanges, will serve as a guide for
building, and the directions given for
filling and taking care of the ice, is all
that is required. 1t will be seen that
the underground plan is much the
cheaper of the two, and requires less
after attention:
81 built wood-shed last season, 80
feet long and IA wide, and used u feet
at the north end for ice, and notwith-
standing the fact that we had but one
freeze last winter, and only got our ice
house two-thirds full of ice less than six
inches thick, we have used not less than
so pounds day since the first of May,
and have let our neighbors have at least
1000 pounds. We still have plenty of
ice, and think it will last through Sep
tember. For drainage, we threw in a
foot of stone, varying in size from a
goose-egg mp to those that would weigh
10 or 10 pounds each. On this we put
a foot of saw-dust and then packed the
ice as close as possible, leaving space
of Is inches all around the outside.
The ice should be cut as true
as possible, so as to pack closely, and
every crack should be filled closely with
broken ice. 1t should be filled in cold
weather, so that the ice will freeze solid,
and you should have sawdust on hand
to cover it at once. Take great pains
to pack the sawdust well round the out
side. As soon as the open, windy
weather of March sets in, visit the ice
house every day, and with spade in
your hand, tramp round and feel with
the spade for holes, and when you find
them, fill and tramp solid. In a small
ice-house this is absolutely neceSGary, if
you expect to keep your ice through The
summer. I am satisfied that my ice
wasted more in March and April than it
did in July and August. A body of ice,
ten feet square and ten feet high, well
packed and covered with sawdust to the
depth of eighteen inches, will keep
through the hottest season we ever have,
if attention is given to it daily; but a
weeks neglect, even in March, may
work hole through it from top to bot
tom and leave you without ice in mid
summer. For convenience in attending
to it, ard also in getting ice, it should be
built near the house. Mine is within
ten feet of the kitchen-door. The
partition between the ice and wood
house is not nailed, but the boards are
set on edges as we fill, and removed as
fast as the ice settles, and the cakes of
ice are slid on board across the wood
shed to the kitchen door. If the ice
house can be located where there is
shade from the afternoon sun, it is of
advantage, and on the west and south
sides | would recommend double board
ing, so as to leave a dead-air chamber !;
! / L. L Ln orI, ,oon1 OF