:NATURAL ICE. It is said that both the Creeks ' and the Romans packed snow in deep under ground pits, and that Nero established ice-houses in Rome. At the end of the seventeenth century dealers in ice and snow were quite common in France. In 1799 a cargo of ice, cut from a pond near Canal Stret t. in New York t'ity, was shipped to f'harleston. S. C. This may he eon sidered as of little moment ; but in the winter of 183-06 Frederiek Tudor, of Boston.
entered the ice field in good earnest, and, after some heavy losses, succeeded in establishing au export trade in ice which was the beginning of the modern industry. Tudor's first ice cargo, of 130 tons, was Boston to Alartinique in the winter of 1803.06, but though the he rcaelted its destination in safety, the venture re sulted in a loss. Two years later a shipment of 2.10 tons to llavana. Cuba. also resulted in a to Tudor. .1 monopoly of the ice trade with the Ilritish \Vest Indies was secured by Tudor about Isle., and a like privilege from Spain in 1815 16. From ISI.5 to 1820 the same merchant extended his be trade to ('harleston. S. C., Savannah, Ca.. and New Orleans, La. Others followed his ex ample, until in 1835 ice exports from the United States, according to statistics of Treasury 1)epartment, amounted to 41.117 tons, valued at $190,793. These exports increased to tons, valued at in 1870, since which time, according to the authority already cited, there has been an :limos( constant deerease, until in 1900 the tonnage was only 13,720, and it. value If the figures were available it would doubtless appear that the foreign ice.
trade was soon outstripped the 110MeSI le COM nteree in what has long since changed from a luxury to a necessity. The fee Trade 'Marna/ has published figures for the harvest of and Iludson River ice for the years 1878 to 1900, inclusive. AVIlleh show• that those two sources alone prodeved yearly quantities ranging from 2.226.000 tons in 1880 to 5.1;26.430 tons in 1899. The capaeity of Hudson River ire-houses in 1900 was placed at 1.2111.000 tons. The combined :\laine and Iludson River yield, enormous as it may seem. is estimated at only about. half the commercial product of natural ice in the United Stales; hut even if this be not too low for the total, it should lie remembered that. in the aggre gate, the additional harvest for private purposes is immense.
1Imtvr:srtNn ICE is a comparatively simple operation, or series of operations, the main fea tures of which are as follows: The snow, if any, lying on the ice is removed by scrapers. In
ca-e There is an upper layer of snow ice. it is loosened by field planes and then removed. :Markers are next used to outline the blocks, which are followed by plows, which cut the grooves still deeper. The scrapers, planes, mark ers. and plows are drawn by horses or mules. The parallel grooves. it should be understood, are first cut in one direction, then another series is cut at right angles to the first. The final grooves extend nearly through the ice, so that the watery vapors above the stored ice. Railway sidings, or docks, or both, afford means for ship ping the ice to distributing centres. Specially constructed cars, with lined sides and bottoms, are used where ice is to be shipped long distances, and in the South the cakes are carefully packed in addition.
cakes may readily be pried apart by means of suitable tools. When the latter operation has been effected the cakes are floated to the shore through channels provided for the purpose, and there elevators, generally inclined, lift the ice to the ice-houses. The cakes are packed close together, with sawdust or other insulating mate rial above the final layer, and between the ice and the outer walls of the ice-house. The ice houses are generally tall structures, with outer walls composed of one' to three compartments-. Probably the most approved plan is to have an outer compartment in which the air is allowed to circulate; an inner or dead-air compartment; and a central space packed tightly with sawdust. The bottom of the ice-house must be well drained, and ample provision must be made for ventila tion in order to prevent the accumulation of Besides the ice tools already named (snow scraper, ice-plane, marker, and plow) the follow ing may be mentioned: Augers and tapping-axes for inspecting the ice awl for draining it of surface water; saws; forked and pronged and chisel and needle bars, for separating the cakes after the markers and plows have done their work; trimmer bars for squaring the cakes, and hooks, grapples. and forks, for pushing them to the elevator; chain scoop-nets and sieve shovels, for removing slush ice from the channels: hoist ing, drag, and edging tongs. adzes and long handled chisels for packing the ice in the houses; saws and bars for loosening the ice preparatory to shipment from the houses; and, finally, de livery wagons, tongs, saws, axes, shaves. and scales.