The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1908-04-25
ICE FARMS OF BENGAL
How They Get Natural lce 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 lnsula'
tion, 10 CONCEALED During the Night.

NsNNN "f&NNft - -''N
Rapid Evaporation and Heat lnsula'
tion, 10 conaealed 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 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 ID degrees or
20 degrees T. above the congealing
point. writes l.. Lodlan In the Scientific
American. The method practiced Is an
instructive example Of keen obserya.
ton adapted to material purposes BY n
nation which Is today ignorant OF the
science Of the thing-that is. they could
not explain If questioned what actually
causes the forming OF the Ice beyond
few vague phrases. like "the wind
and excepting 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. 1870 feet long by y
broad, running in an easteriy ana west
erly direction. The soil is removed ''
n depth Of couple Of feet. This ex
cayntion when made is smOothed anc
| then allowed to remain exposed to tht
torrid rays of the sun to dry; then rice
straw In small sheayes is laid In al
oblioue direction in the hollow. VIII
loose straw on the top to the depth OF
foot and a half, leaving Its surface
half a foot below that OF the ground.
Numerous beds Of this kind are form
ed-the ensemble constituting the ic'
farms-with narrow sidewalks between
them. In which here and there larg'
covered earthen water jars are SUM
in the ground for the convenience O
having water near by to ill the shallow
earthen vessels in which 1t Is to b'
frozen. These dishes are nine inches
In diameter at the top. diminishing u
| Eve inches at the bottom, one and one
half inches deep and one-quarter Incl
thick, and are so porous as to soon Dt
come moist throughout when water
placed in them.
When evening comes the shallo'
. earthenware pans are placed In row
upon the litter, and by means of littl
burned tilt pots secured to the ends
lengthy bambusa canes each pan
: half filed with water The quantit
nevertheless varies according to tn
expectation of ice. The natives ca
forecast that by the aspect OF the heaN
ems and the evenness with which tn
|, air currents come from the northwest
There are about 5000 plates in eac
of the beds, and the ice yield will az
erage a quarter pound from each dish
In the cool season when the temperi
| ture of the air at the ice fields Is III
der so degrees f. and there are gent
breezes from the north and west dire
tions ice appears in a night In all OF Il
shallow pans. Native watchers are
the lookout to note when thin Ill
appears on the water In the pans, whe
the contents of several are mixed t
gether and sprinkled over the 9TH
dishes. This method augments Il
= freezing action.
Stagnation has been discovered
: the natives TO diminish the quantity
d ice produced. When the armament
entirely clear. with zephyr curren
= from the northwest, the congelatit
begins before or about midnight al
continues to advance till mornin
Q when the thickest ice is formed. 1t
S often an inch thick, and sometimes Il
: whole contents of the dish are froz'
v compact.
n The ice dishes present a large mol
n external surface to the air current
producing rapid evaporation and
{ lowering of the temperature. The "
e ter which percolates through the
IS rous trays exposes so large surfa
r, to the breeze that 1t is promptly fl
h zen. In addition to the evaporati
effect we also have the influence
heat insulation to fall back upon
explaining the phenomenon.
. The thick layernof dry straw In Z
Ice beds forms large surface whi
y is a poor conductor Of heat The ne
y can penetrate lot a little way into
A during the day. SO soon as the 81
:. sets sets this large and powerfully
> dating surface is brought into acti
= and affects the water In the thin.
s rous pans, themselves strong radiato
S, Some Of the natural "ice farms"
lie Bengal produce in single night ov
re ten tons of ice, employing 300 perso
Of all sizes and ages, and the ear
morning harvesting Of the Ice by the
1.-THE gentry darting about is one Of t
few animated scenes worth noting
the Ganges region.