Evening journal., 1908-03-28
ICE FARMS OF BENGAL
How They Get Natural Ice With
out Frost In India.
A SYSTEM in USE FOR AGES.

Shallow Porous Earthen Dishes In
Which Water, by the Process Of
Rapid Evaporation and Heat Insula-
tion, Is CONCEALED During the Night.
In hot India, where every day in the
year the resident gets all the heat he
wants. there are four or five months
Of the year-November to March
when the nights, although never reach
ing even to freshness, can be made to
produce many tons Of ice in the open.
The fields In which the ice is made
are low. Fat and open, and the Ice is
produced in large lots when the tenn
perature OF the air is 10 degrees or
20 degrees f. above the congealing
point. writes L. Lodlan In the Scientific
American. The method practiced is an
instructive example of keen observa-
tlon adapted to material purposes by a
nation which is today ignorant Of the
science OF the thing-that is, they could
not explain IL questioned what actually
causes the forming Of the ice beyond
a few vague phrases, like "the wind
and 'keeping the earthly heat down."
Yet this same ice forming process has
been utilized in India since the ages
that are "lost in the night Of time" and
all with a scientific observation and ac-
curacy which the Hindoo has acquired
by instinct handed down through count
less generations.
The ice plot is a rectangular piece
Of ground. say. 130 feet long by 30
broad, running in an easterly and west
erly direction. The soil is removed to
a depth of a couple of feet This ex-
cavation when made is smoothed and
then allowed to remain exposed to the
torrid rays of the sun to dry; then rice
straw in small sheaves is laid in an
obllque direction In the hollow. with
loose straw on the top to the depth of
a foot and half, leaving its surface
half a foot below that OF the ground.
Numerous beds of this kind are form
ed-the ensemble constituting the ice
farms-with narrow sidewalks between
them, in which here and there large
covered earthen water Jars are sunk
IN the ground for the convenience Of
having water near by to fill the shallow
earthen vessels in which 1t is to be
frozen. These dishes are nine inches
in diameter at the top, diminishing to
five inches at the bottom, one and one
half inches deep and one-quarter inch
thick, and are so porous as to soon be
come moist throughout when water is
placed in them.
When evening comes the shallow
earthenware pans are placed in rows
upon the litter. and by means Of little
burned tilt pots secured to the ends of
lengthy bambusa canes each pan is
half filed with water. The quantity
nevertheless varies according to the
expectation Of ice. The natives can
forecast that by the aspect OF the heav-
ems and the evenness with which the
air currents come from the northwest.
There are about 5000 plates in each
OF the beds, and the ice yield will av-
erage a quarter pound from each dish.
In the cool season when the tempera-
ture Of the air at the ice fields is un-
der 90 degrees II. and there are gentle
breezes from the north and west direc-
tions fee appears In a night in all Of the
shallow pans. Native watchers are on
the lookout to note when a thin film
appears on the water in the pans. when
the contents Of several are mixed to-
gether and sprinkled over the other
dishes. This method augments the
freezing action.
Stagnation has been discovered by
the natives to diminish the quantity Of
ice produced. When the armament is
en-irelS'- clear. with -zephZr currents