Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 October 1868 — How to Build an Ice House. [ARTICLE]

How to Build an Ice House.

A subscriber wishes to know how to construct an ice house that will supply four families; whether to make above or below ground; in a grove by the side of a stream, or on the open prairie, etc. There are very few men who favor making ice houses under ground, as it is found that ice wastes faster from the heat deri ml from the earth than from that received directly from the sun. We would commend building in the shade rather than on the open prairie, as the air would be some cooler.— Near the stream would be a convenient site for the building, as it would be little trouble to put the blocks of ice into it, r and the spaces between the blocks could then be easily filled with water and frozen during some of the severest days of winter. Wood is generally regarded as the cheapest and best material to use in the construction of an ice house, as it is necessary to haye a hollow or double wall and % filling of some non-conducting substance in any case. A building eight feet high, eight Uy twelve on the ground, would doubtless be of sufficient capacity for stipylying- four families and allow one-fourtUo? the ice to go to waste. Many persons build ice houses by placing the sills directly on the ground; but our experience is that the ice will keep better if the building is entirely supported by upright posts, which we would prefer to have imbedded in charcoal.— Thijj allows a free circulation of air under the building, and provides for suitable drainage. — The only difference between building an ice house and any other building, is that it must be a double building-—one iiK as the walls are concerned. The space % betweeir the wall will depend upon the efficiency of the mon-conductor used for filling; if it is to be pulverized charcoal, six inches would be sufficient; but it saw dust or spent tan bark is to be the material, then a foot would be the proper distance. The floor may be made double like the the wall, or a single floor will answer if thete are several inches of strawput under the ice. The roof is sometimes made double like the wall, but it is a cheaper plan to make a floor across from the eaves, which may be covered on. the top with looaesaw dust. If this plan be adopted, the of the gable ends may be single, and a door can be cut through one of them and through the floor across the eaves, through which the ice can be passed into the building. It is well to divide off a few feet on each end of the building for a cooling room for milk' Or a room for keeping fresh meatand vegetables. The doors leading into and out of this room should be double like the walls, and may be either fitted with heavy hinges or made to slide. An ice house should be opened but once a' day, which should be as early in the morning as possible; and if several families use from the same, they should unite on & time in the morning when they will get their supply.— PrairieFanner. Kthuing Plantain.—A lady in North Carolina says plantain may be eradicated by cutting off the weed as near the roots