ICE-HOUSE, a repository for the preservation of ice during the summer months.
The aspect of an ice-house ought to be towards the south east. on account of the advantage of the morning sun in expelling the damp air, which is far more prejudicial to it than warmth. The best soil on which such a house can be erected is a chalk-hill, or declivity, as it will conduct the waste water without the aid of any artificial drain ; but where such land cannot be procured, a loose stony earth, or gravelly soil on a descent, is preferable to any other.
For the construction of an ice-house, a spot should be selected at a convenient distance from the dwelling-house. A cavity is then to be dug in the fhrm of an inverted cone, the bottom being concave, so as to fortn a reservoir tir the reception of waste water. Should the soil render it necessary to construct a drain, it will be advisable to extend it to a con siderable length, or, at least, so far as to open at the side of the hill or declivity, or into a well. An air-trap should like wise be formed in the drain, by sinking the latter so much lower in that opening as it is high, and by fixing a partition from the top, for the depth of an inch or two into the water of the drain, by which means the air will be completely excluded from the well. A sufficient number of brick-piers
must now be formed in the sides of the ice-house, for tho support of a cart-wheel, which should be laid with its convex side upwards, for the purpose of receiving the ice; and which ought to be covered with hurdles and straw, to afford a drain for the melted ice.
The sides and dome of the cone should be about nine inches thick. the former being constructed of brickwork, without mortar, and with the bricks placed at right angles to the face of the work. The vacant space behind ought to be filled with gravel, or loose stones, in order that the water oozing through the sides may the more easily be conducted into the well. The doors of the ice-house should likewise he made to shut closely ; and bundles of straw put before them, more effectually to exclude the air.
The ice to be put in should be collected during the frost, broken into small pieces, and rammed down hard in strata of not more than a foot, in order to make it one complete body ; the care in putting it in, and well ramming it, tends much to its preservation. In a season when ice is not to be had in sufficient quantities, snow may be substituted.
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