New-York tribune., 1885-01-14
1CE CROP PROSPECT!
e.p WORDS FROM MANY DEALERS.
.ov rue pnopucr Is GATHERED AND AARAsfkD
"" TRIALS OF THK BUSINESS.

SAD WORDS FROM MANY DEALERS
.ov TUE PRODUCT Ie GATHERED AND "A"AS'"~
TRIALS OF THK BUSINESS.
.u,, von have tho heart exclaimed
:. ~. ,orecst leo dealers In the city to TRIBUNE
,,sr IN an injured tone, "to ask mo whas are tne
rp.nocts of the ice cropi Did you ever experiences
u.others" he added savagely, gazing out OF tno
sov AT the muddy street. The prospect ne con-
.Im.d . "a wretched. couple OF weeks ago thoush'
that providence was surely on our sue aau '' 49,
., IA and 's5 would be memorable one IN our
WINE. VIM. hut rye seen my fondcst hopes decay once
O"'. "a a. few Northern zephyrs don't travel IN 'hs
,,o, nretty soon you can mako up your h'iiu 'n''
~ s,nts VIII be an expensive luxury next summer
all our ice within the borders OF New" iorA
60 and se IL al in New-York CITY Ihat means 'n"'
e'Ao cold weather, or lose lot OF money IN I'M
we mus. no" - o,nts nearer the North Pole The peo-
porD"s ,v ara extremely particular about the quar-
PIE" .s.,. tee Il must be as clear as the
~ .oor and pure in fact as well az IN appearance
@ hsvs an idea that snow ice isn't soma anu "'n uo
S ot Of the pure crystal article Thiss true oy ~
: ,,,ea degree and II this sort OF weather continue
; he large stocks Of snow Ice In the MARKET 'ne
thaw broke up half Of the river the Hndson), ana
.sae freshet which didn't help the prospects "here
- IA, hreak the ice Il cut 1t underneath When cold
,her .ets in again this ice must be planed TO make IL
a, Gov MARKET and even then most Ii not AL VI "
s, no thrown away. IL would be better 10 start es
p neople except those In the BUSINESS nave an,
,a o the trouble there Is In marketinga goou c'op VI
,cs In the first place there must be TWO weeAs VI
d,v eold weather before ice is fit to cut The idea
.. 80 .,cbt hours will answer Is ridiculous We
80, sx week. OF cold weather to harvest crop ana
,o weeks 10 begin Wespend Jnst as much une anu
,hor in the cultivation OF Ice as afarmer does on MS
o,, cron six inches of ice is generally Followed oy
snow The snow acts as blanket. IT Keeps .he
a.. warm While the snow is on top
unusually cold The snow is removed in order 10 e' 'e
a., ,b,ntan When the ice is from six inches to loot
,her lines are drawn its surface defining cakes meas
urne % by 32 inches for this market Inc cakes ARC
always cut this two cakes are supposed 10 III On
end in an ice wagon. plough 10 run over the lheS
the weather is cold the thickness or tue ice Is
nv means of the furrow Then huge squares are sa"ed
from the field and are foated down TO the ice-hOuse
Tbara IL ia broken up into cakes by men armed
with long handled and broad biaded ehlSels.
When cut into cakes no time lost IN housing IT, Us
thaw happened the small cakes would feel the erect
much more quickly than the field
There are comparatively few people who don't THINK
that the price OF ice is generally too high lhree wes
ago ice was sold for So ton Another year at the same
nrce would have smashed nearly every dealer III the
country People always start out with the proposition
that ice costs nothing; that it be picked up as
grows This isn't so. IL requires CULTIVATION as sal"
before. Then there are the storage houses
They don't grow on the river pdhhs WIN
out assistance. The army of men who field
the ice must be paid From the storagehouo the ice is
loaded upon boats. The loading costs money so does
the freght so does the unloading FROM the boats and
the reOalng from the docks to the wagons which take
# TO the ice-house. We employ from 1000 to 10000
mcn You can imagine the size of the payroll Judge
then il ice costs nothing. ,
n discussing this point with another dealer. he said
al was travelling in the cars lately and heard one man
complain 10 another that his Ice cost hih more hah ms
His coal, lac said cost him 81 ton ana ne PAID
he believed, as much as SlO ton ior MS ice.
TIE other man thought tat cA state OF thnsS was
outrageous. At the rk Of being IeEfe took part IN
the discussion and proved hat thereis just mach
money in coal In ice for the dealer according TO the
way the consumer buys his supply OF each material IN
his sidewalk. he buys ten pounds OF Ice per dlV |
Every morning ice wagon drives up to his door The
fee man takes cake fro'n the wagon he cuts ON zen
pounds. Sometimes he cuts IL against lhr gram ana
splits OF about i've pounds in pieces Whlch |
are lost The piece is carried into the house and |
put into the rerigerator Tne man spends from i've to
ten minutes that miserable piece OF ice aud losing
man calculates that he got ten pounds of leo for many
days aud finds that he PAID hye or SIX dollars Ior toh
and Immediately says that t was outrageous because MS
"Joachn !" called out another dealer 10 bis head
clerk. how much do our ice houses hold I"
"a good deal II nothing Just new. answered Joachm
The dealer tried 10 smile hut gust of warm air from
Ice he said are built to hold from 5000 to
10000 tons but don't think any Of the big houses VIII
Berkshire Hills are covered with foot OF snow the
prospects are bright for big ice crop All the snow
sized SNOWFALL. It's enough to make weep 10
think that he has gathered ice twenty-five inches thck
and reflect that there's little ice IN the state now
that's over four inches thick"
One dealer who 400 wagons In the delivery
OF ice said the outlook was exceedingly gloomy.
II cold weather doesn't set In sOOn" lie said, ice
will be both and dear next No ice worth
speaking has been helded yet About half OF the
crop waste, you know In moving 1t abOu, from
place another and in passing through the various
between the field and the refrigerator. We al
ways divide the crop by two and sometimes calculate on
Q loss of go per cent"
THE business isn't what II was" said another large
dealer We've lost big bit OF trade through the adop
ton of cod-ar machines by brewers large brewery
up immense amount Of Ice In year. TIE beer
will spoil unless IL is kept cool and for this purpose fee
used until some genius invented process OF freez
iLg the atmo sphere by artificial means. To keep q |
brewery cool by this a lot of money but II
machine doesn't OF order and spoil stock of
beer or out too II may be saving. don't
think the machines have yet proved that, they
cheaper thsn ice"
When asked If ice conla not be manufactured by artn
ca at lower figure than is asked for the natural
product be laughed
Don't let such idea find Judgement in |
your BRAIN" he said. " The country is full |
OF Ice machines speak. They all warranted to
make pure. hard ice for dollar ton. took the
II CURES furnished by the inventor of OF these
machines and found that all the ice made by would
cost IS ton. The inventor OF ice machine |
doesn't want make ice. He wants to sell machines
and let others into the Improbable business OF ice
making"