Rensselaer Union, Volume 3, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 March 1871 — An Extemporaneous Ice-House. [ARTICLE]

An Ex temporaneous Ice-House.

There are multitude* ot farmers, and mechanics even, deterred from' saving ice forHhcmeelves, by the coat of un ice house, although they can he made of the rudest material* ana with home labor. We can extemporize an Ice-house without making a tenon or sawing a board. Construct a pen near the pona or Btream where the* ice is to he gathered, choosing if possible a gravel-bank where there will be good urainuge. The pen may be made of rails twelve feet long, or of any desired length. The larger the pen, the better the ice will keep. Lay un two rails upon each of the four sides. Make the bottom level, anil a >ver it si :ot or more with straw, sea-weeds, or any convenient refuse vegetable matter. Stwdust is better than straw, ifitcanbe had. Spent tan-bark is a good material for this foundation. Cut the cakes of ice in the usual manner, and pack them closely, filling the interstices with pounded ice, and it the weather is freezing pour on a little water to make it solid. Pack the outside with a foot of straw, sawduvt, or other material, and put up the fence as the pile of ice rises. The pile can be conveniently made about eight feet high. Cover the top with at least eighteen inches of sawdust, or two feet of straw trodden down eiosqly. Make a roof of boards or slabs slanting to the north, sufficiently steep to shed water, and fasten with a few nails, Such a pile of ice as this can be secured by a couple of men and a team in a day. A cheap ice-box made with double sides and packed with sawdust will be wanted. The inner chamber should be about 2 feet long, 2 feet deep, and 18 inches wide. This w ill hold a single cake of ice weighing a hundred pounds or more, and leave room on top to keep milk, fresh meats, fruit, and other matters. It will last from four days to a week, according to the quantity that is used in the drinking water. If the extemporaneous ice-house is not disturbed more than once a week, is will probably supply»the family through the summer with abundance of-ice. We think any farmer who tries- this simple method of supplying his family with ice one season will not fail to put up a permanent building the next, and lay in his stores of ice as regularly as his pork and potatoes. It pays in the ice-pitcher as a luxury, and saves many times its cost in preserving perishable articles.— Hearth and Home.