Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1885-07-10
TALKS WITH THE BOYS.
Inventions Generally the Result Of
Observation of Natures Ways.
Eow lee u ArtincialIy yManunaetured-Ths
Pur fcatIon OF FILTHY Water and Its
Transformation Into differing Crys-
tai Blocks-Fish Ponds, Etc.


~. QuIl, In Detroit Free Press.l
Tsko th worst n.uI-puddle along the
highway anl when it freezes up the ice
will be as clear as that cut from the river
Haven't YOU often wondered at this?
Wouldn't IL seem reasonable 20 expect the
Ice 90 I q the same color as the water? Why
lsn't ity
That's the keynote OF my subject. Dame
Nature has some very curious ways, my
Toy. and this is one OF them. In summer
she helps that mud-puddle to make itself
Offens We to the eye and the noso-in
winter she al1no purifles Il. When her
cold, frosty fingers begin 10 dabbls in the
waters Of the sIouyhs and ponds and
bayous she begins to purify. AS the
toeczlng process IL carried on the water Il
refined, and when the ice comes you see 70
clean aud transparent. Nature may not
be able 20 sqIeeE' out all the weeds and
sticks from this pond ice, but Il would sur
prise you TO see what she does cast aside
In the process Of publication.
The first hint Of how to make artificial
Ice must have como from a man who had
closely studied Natures ways. Before the
war all the ice used in the South was
shipped from the North, and it had a
ready sale at 81 per 10 pounds. Many
ships were engaged in the trade, load
ing the ice on the New EnglaRd coast
anil delivering Il at Charleston, Savan-
nah, Mobile, Galveston AMI other points.
Much Of this ice was naturally lost In the
handling, and the high price made IL an
article Of luxury. The invention OF
process by which ice could be turned out
In large quantities at very low rates
was, therefore. hailed with great salts
faction There is not now a city OF any
sire in the South without its manufac-
tory, aud ice can DO had at rstail for 81
TO Sl.j0 per 100 pounds. No Northern ice
ran find market except along the sea-
board. have seen, on three different
occasions, lum9s Of NorLh,rn ice and
cakes Of artificial ice plac ID side by side
In the sun, and In each instance tho artih-
cial last, much the longest.
And now as to the manufacture: There
srs two processes, but we will take the
simples which Is call the ammonia
process. The building may bs an old
harm OF ro igh she'd, anl the engine of
from ten TO twenty horsepower. As
saw the operation in a Georgia town they
pumped their water from canal, and it
was too mu Idly for n fish to live in. Fill
barrel with IL TO stand over night, and
there would he two inches OF mul In tho
bottom OF the barrel next morning.
The water is first pumps1 into large
condenser, and Is there purified and passed
to condenser number two. IL is again
purified, and is then pumped iuto the
baths. Each bath Is n huge, square bin,
provided with apertures for holding nine
ty-six tin molds. These mods are sixteen
inches long. eight wide anil four thick, and
are op"n at the top. Eici can, when filed
with water, is placed ia a bin In a CON-
partnent hy itsel', and largo lii shuts
iown over all. AS tho w.tir reaches tbs
molds Il is 50 clenr and trIns1aren that
you could easily perceive grain of .and
nj the bottom OF th5 can. Through the
bins and around the cnus ammonia gas Is
constantly circ1laing ia pip s. and salt
water is churnsl about and kept In con-
slant motion l'y means of pad lies worked
Ly machinery.
IL tako- seventy p11nds OF salt 70 make
n "bath" for three bias holding sSS molds,
ani II is renewed olce n week. One bar
rel of ammonia Will last a small factory
like the Que | AIN describn; about ten
days.
Let the factory start with all the molds
full OF water, and IL Is only about half an
hour before the men begin to tax, out ice.
The m1lds are a. ted out of Ia, bin and
carried TO n vat OF hot water and dipped.
This loosens the ice, and IL Is flung on "a
table. Each cake weighs twenty pounds.
aud throe of them are placed together to
freeze sol Il. This makes cAks sixteen
inches long. twelve inches thick aud twen-
y-fDur inches wide. II is 80 perfectly
clear that IL reflects your image like
glass, aud you eau read newspaper print
through three feot Of it.
There Is the engine pumping up the
muddy water at ono end Of the old build
ing, aud the men handling the purest,
incest ice you ever saw ut the other, while
between them are only n few tanks and
pipes. It seems wonderful, dOesn't itg
In summer IL Is a common thing in Now
Orleans and other Sou hern cities to see
blocks of artificial ice In the windows Of
restaurants with quail, rabbits and other
game frozen in them. One who does no,
understand that Il is artificial ics Is fain
10 wonder how ON earth the articles got In |
there
And In connection with this ice question |
I want Co drop a hint to the farmer boys
OF the North. There Is hardly farm in
any county on which a fish pond can not
be made. You want clean, clear water &C
feed H. 10 the inlet II n creek you must
arrange matters In such n way that, dur
ing higher water, when the water is
muddy, IL can be diverted from the pond.
A hume OF race. or pipe from the creek 70
the pond can be closed up nc any time
Perch, bass, muiiet, suckers, ball heads.
pike and other varieties will live and
thrive on the farm, aud In time the farmer
will have fish 20 sell at the nearest market.
There Is amusement, recreation aud profit
oil In one. and when winter comes this
same pond will yield all the ice wanted al
the farm -hOuss during the summer. There
are many Of these fish -poads in the South. !
and the owners are making big money
from the sale Of fish alone. I have seer
them fed by pipe running from a wind.
mill and tank a long way of, and again
by hume leading of a creek. Any nat
ural sink or basin will make the lake II yor
can get water enough, and the fish should
be fed now and then with bread crumbs
The farmers boy who will 20 into this vii |
have moro sport than in hunting aud more
profit than In selling eggA
=------
READER asks: "Wbat Is n conun-
drumP A conundrum Is a man at a syyelJ
dinner In evening dress. Ycu can't tell /