Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-12-03
LANCASTER > fnttllige1lcer.
FRIDAY EVENING, DEC. 3, 1850.
Now for Your Ice Houses

Germantown Telegraph.
There are very few farmers at the pres
ent time, who conduct mixed husbandry
and are within reach of a metropolitan
market, or of a station, who has not pro-
vided himself with an ice house of sufficient
capacity to meet his wants throughout
the year. lie finds, too, that in providing
himself with what was formerly considered
an almost insuperable attainment, an ice
house costs no more than many a good
hog pen. We had one built ourselves
twenty-five years ago, which cost about
$500, and We could now provide a far su-
perior one, for it's actual value, for fifty
dollars. Ornamentation is quite out Of
place on an ice house. It is not put in a
conspicuous location to he admired and
commented on for its architectural beauty,
but where it will be quite out of sight, if
possible, and where it can he easily ap-
preached to bc filled, in cold exposure,
and where the drainage is perfect.
In saying what We now do about the
cheamess Of an ice house, We do not wish
to he understood that VIC approve of the
many plans, or rather no plans, in which
to keep ice throughout even the hotter
portion of the summer. In fact there is a
"plan" now before us, appearing in a
leading journal which undertakes weekly
to furnish information and instruction to
farmers and others on agrestic pursuits,
of which We are very certain it possesses
not single practical idea. In regard to
keeping ice, it recommends, as sufficient
for an "ordinary family" merely the for
nation Of cubical body of ice of about
eight feet, the "blocks to be GU. as smooth
as possible and square, SO they will fit
nj fhn, r,,,ct ha ov,nv,pNnd N N
fine and crowded in between the pieces so
as to make solid mass" and SO on, and a
great deal more Of it. This body must be
coyercd-up with sawdust; but large
mass docs not even require sawdust, "Only
straw or a double wall Of boards" etc.
I'his is to do everything but try it and
see.
Nevertheless, the cost Of a house in
which ice can be kept for say nine months
in the year, is very trifling. A frame
building Of rough boards and timber,
raised from eighteen to twcnty-four inches
from the gronnd, dOnble-walled with
boards at bottom and sides, from eight to
ten inches apart and filled in with saw
dust, is about all there is to do. The
straw on the top in addition will
answer as u substitute for double
roofing. The ice should be packed closely
in blocks, Of course, and on the compile.
tiOn of every layer the small pieces OF
blocks lying around-and if not enough
the smaller, irregular blocks should be
broken for the lalrpose-should be thrown
over to fill UP the crcvices. The door OF
aperture of the house should be in parts,
to slide down in a groove, ono on top OF
the other so that they can be taken out OF
put in rs the process Of filling or empty
ing may require. Ventilation is an impor
tant matter, and is perhaps best secured
by allowing a strip of say three inches
open around the whole building directly
at the top OF the "square." The water
dripping from the iGe should he directly
carried away from under the building.
From twenty-five to thirty twO-horse
loads of solid ice are sufficient to supply a
good sized family for all it may need fOr
every ordinary purpose. But if you follow
the advice of the theorists who tell you
that from four to six loads are enough you
will not follow it more than once.