Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1894-01-26
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
WILL BE FOUND IN THIS De.
PARTMENT.

PAR MENU
= Cheap Building Answers as Well a. .
Costly Structure for an Ice House-N,-
brasks Beet suEar-value of Corn
Slower
Building an Ice House.
A cheap board building, with the
cracks battened, answers about as
well as a costly structure, with double
walls flied in. The keeping of the
ice does not depend so much upon the
walls of the building as upon the
kind and amount of material with
which it is packed. Sawdust or dry
tanbark furnish the best pack. .ng ma
terials. But these, In many locale
ties are difficult to obtain. Next to
these dry cut straw or chat Is prob
ably the, best, and almost any farm
can furnish the straw. Cut straw is
better than whole, because it packs
closer and makes q good noncon-
ductor, though whole straw is often
successfully used. In the latter case
the space for filling between the pile
of iceand the walls of the building
needs to he wider than il cut straw
were used. In case cut straw Is used
we would leave a. space of sixteen
inches tor filling, but with whole
straw, of two feet. The sills of the
building should rest on the ground or
On q wall Luilt for them, allow. ing no
u3r IN onfor nndorno0fh Wo xuo,,1r
lay tile foot below the surface in-
side, with its outlet some d stance
away to keep the bottom dry, but vilc
should not open into the building to
admit air. A foundation of at least
a foot deep Of the packing material
sawdust, tan or rstraw-sbOuld belaid
over the bottom on which to build
the pile Of ice. and the blocks should
be cut as nearly possible of uniform
size SO as to PACK closely, and it is
we'll to go er each layer as 1t is put
in, and fill all cracks with pounded
ice. SO as to make the pile as near
solid as possible. When the pile is
finished, or as it progresses, the till-
ing between it and the sides of the
building should be made and tramp.ed
down as solidly as possible and COW
ering Of at least two feet in depth be
made over all.
Ventilation should be provided for
by openings in the gables or ventil-
ating shaft going up through the
roof to p.rmit the escape o. the most
air which gath RS about the ice. The
door should be, for convenience, made
In Two sections, an upper aud lower,
with boards laid across on the insi e
of the frame holding the packing
material in pla e.
The proper size depends upon the
amount Of ice that will be required.
Ice will measure about forty cubic
feet to the ton, and ten tons would
be liberal supply for family use.
This would be e, uivalent to a pile
eight feet long, eight feet wide, and
six and one-half feet high. 1t we al
low two feet on all sides for packing
space. the building to hold this
amount in the form above given,
would need to be l2xl2 feet, with
nine.foot posts. A door in the gable
would be needed for putt ng In the
top layers and taking out ice early in
the season. AS cheap and g1od a
way for a cheap building would be to
set posts in the ground, three ON a
side. except the end where the doors
are, with 2x4 for plate and middle
and bottom girths and board up,
down and batten. banking up at the
bottom to exclude air. The roof
should project considerably on all
sides. SO as TO shade the sides, and If
it could be built under the shade OF
trees it would be all the better.
When expense is no object and a
permanent structure is desired a
brick or stone foundation should be
put in on whic /, to lay the s'Ils,
which should he bedded in mortar,
and double walls can be made BY
using 2x, or .xl2 for studding and
filling the space between the outside
and inside Loarding. Ice should be
cut and put up only in freezing
weather II cut and handled when
the temperatureis is above freezing the
blocks splinter and crack and its
keeping qualities are considerably in
jured. New England Farmer.
Nebraska I3eet Sugsr.