Coeur d'Alene evening press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1907-1929, 1909-11-04
ICE FARMS OF BENGAL
How They Get Natural Ice With
out Frost In india.
a SYSTEM IN USE FOR AGES.

Rapid Evaporation and Heat lnsula-
ton, 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 Eve 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. fiat and open. and the ice Is
produced IN large lots when the tenn
perature Of the air Is 10 degrees or
20 degrees y. above the cOngeallng
point. writes l.. LodIan In the Scientific
American. The method practiced il an
instructive example OF keen observa
ton adapted to material purposes by
nation which Is today ignorant OF the
sclenee Of the thing Is. they could
not explain II questioned what actually
causes the forming Of the Ice beyond
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" aud
all with scientific observation and az
curacy which the Hindoo has acquired
by Instinct handed down through count
less generations,
The Ice plot Is a rectangular piece
OF ground. say. 100 feet long by 30
broad. running in an easterly and west
erly direction The soil Is removed to
a depth OF couple Of feet This ex
cayatiOn 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 It's surface
half foot below that Of the ground.
Numerous beds OF this kind are form.
ed-the ensemble constituting the ice
farms--wlth 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 oil the shallow
earthen vessels In which II is to be
frozen These dishes are nine inches
In diameter at the top. diminishing to
Ave inches at the bottom. one and one
half inches deep and one-quarter inch
thick. and are 80 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 filled 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 quarter pound from each dish
In tho cool season when the temporal
ture Of the air at the ice fields Ii UNI
der 30 degrees +. and there are gentle
bFeezcs from the north aud west dlrec-
lions Ice appears In night In all Of the
shallow pans Native watchers are on
the lockout TO note when 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 augInents the
freezing action. .
Staguation has been discovered by
the natives to diminish the quantity of
Ice produced. When the Armament Is
entirely clear, with zephyr currents
from the northwest. the congelatlon
begins before or about midnight and
continues to advance till morning.
when the thickest Ice Is formed II Is
often an inch thick. and sometimes the
whole contents of the dish are frozen
compact.
The Ice dishes present a large moist
external surface to the air currents,
producing rapid evaporation and a
lowering OF the temperature. The wa
ter which pereOlates through the po-
rous trays exposes so large a surface
to the breeze that It Is promptly fro
zen. In addition to the evaporatlve
effect we also have the influence OF
heat Insulation to fan back upon In
explaining the phenomenon.
The thick layer Of dry straw In the
Ice beds forms large surface which
Il poor conductor Of heat The heat
can penetrate but little way into II
during the day, SO soon as the sun
sets sets this large aud powerfully ra-
dating surface b brought into action
and Affects the water In the thin. po-
rous pans, themselves strong radiators.
Some OF the natural ice farms" OF
Bengal produce In single night over
ten tons OF Ice. employing 300 persons
OF all sizes and ages. and the early
morning harvesting OF the Ice by these
1.-THE gentry darling about Is one OF the
rev animated scenes worth noting In