VOLLX
INDIANAPOLIS, SEPT. 23, 1905.
NO 38
XZxvzrlcutz JJCspartnxcnt
HOW  TO  MAKE   AND
HOUSE.
USE    AN  ICE
Drainage is Very Important.
1st Premium—The heat location for an
ice house is upon the north side of a
building but it should uot be uuder
llic eaves. Tho Ibest Boil on
whieh to build is one that is sullicient-
ly porous to allow the water to leak
tlrough without the necessity of using a
drain, tis this makes way for a current of
warm air.
If the soil requires a drain, the outer
ehii should be closed so that air currents
C?nm>t penetrate the interior.
If the soil is not sandy and porous, tlie
bite for an ice house, to be built above
ground, should be so elevated that tlie
water from the eaves and that from the
melting ice can be conducted off without
Jilllcult.v.
If a very cheap construction is to be
built, and the soil is clay, take a few
poles, rails, or scantling, about ten feet
long, and lay them upon the ground a
foot or so apart, until tho breadth of the
bed is equal to the length, say ten feet
sc,uare. Fill between with sawdust and
cover with boards or slabs (one thickness),
then put on a good bed of sawdust, and
the platform is ready for the ice.
If the soil is porous, the builder may
excavate three or four feet deep, ten- or
twelve feet square, and lay down scantling and cover with rough boards for a
floor. It is not necessary to excavate,
but is more convenient for filling.
If the soil is gravelly, dig a pit and fill
with round stones, and cover with sand
first and then sawdust The water will
escape easily through the sand and stones,
and there will be no chance for currents
of air to flow upward into the house.
Use old sawdust. That which is new
is liable to ferment ami give off heat
when   thoroughly   packed. After   the
foundation is leady, set up studding, two
by eight inch stuff, eight feet long, and
at distances of three feet apart, if inch
boards are used for cover. The covering boards should be well seasoned, so as
to make tight joints. The outer wall, as
high as the surface of the ground, may be
nailed on the studs before they are set
down upon the floor. Board up on
both sides of the studs to the top, and
pack the earth around the outer wall,
leaving it to descend in all directions to
carry off tbe surface water. Fill thet
space between the boards (eight inches)
to the top of the wall with fine charcoal,
dry sawdust, or tan bark, well packed
down. Or you may lay plates and put
uf. studding in a double row, aud fill
I elvveen with sawdust or tan bark well
pressed   down. jVfter   filling   up   Uie
fides nail a strip of board nicely over
the top, to prevent rats or mice from
burrowing within. Upon this the rafters nay h: allowed to rest; or the roof
moy be made of whole boards running
up to the lidge and battened. In either
case the roof should project well over
ihe wall on all sides. Lay on joists
before the roof is put on. Nail a floor
upon these, nnd give a good coating of
sawdust This obviates the necessity
of double roofiug.
The roof should be quarter pitch, either
of boards or shingles. In many parts
of the country roofing-paper is employed
instead of shingles. Such paper is very
stron;.', and impervious to water, so
that, aftor a heavy coat of paint, is applied
to the surface of roof  will be  as  tight
u»   tin. However,   I   do   uot   like     a
roof made so tight as to exclude air. Iu
tht* -;iiblo i-"id of the house a smah door
M1011M be constructed that may be opened
find closed at pleasure. It may be simply a piece of board, six by eight inches,
hung with light iron hinges, and shutiing
t.gainst clouts that have been nailed upon
the insi.le. When laying the floor beneath tlie roof, saw out n place six inches square ami tuck around on each side
pieces of board, six or eight inches long,
extending up as a tube through the sawdust.        This is a cheap ventilator.
melting. .V pile of ice ton feet square
rnd ten feet high will contain al-out 25
tons. One twenty feet square and ten
feet high will contain tine hundred tons,
rll.ivvanco being made lor unfilled ••pares.
Ice weighs 57 iKiuuds to ihe cubic foot,
(.'tiling it 50 pounds to Ihe cubic foot as
piled, anyone can roughly estimate the
i-h'.e of house required. S.
Washington Co.
An Inexpensive Method.
2d    Premium. - The  ice    house mciy  be
trade of lumber or poles.       1  have  seen
seasons, especially  where it is scarce and
bird to get. A Header.
ljcsidi.nce of Chas. Causey, West Union, Parke Co., Ind.     The home has 11 rooms,
.  with  wash room, bath and pantry, basement, furnace room, fruit room, work
room pi.ied for hot aud cold water.    Cost ?3,000.
On the north side tliere should be two
center posts so as to form a doorway,
whieh may be supplied with slip boards
or. the inside. Tiie space for the door
should be no larger than is absolutely
necessary, say two and one half feet
vide and five feet high. The entrance
should bo protected by a door on the outside, opening out, and by slip boards used
on the other side of the studding for the
sawdust or straw around the ice to rest
against This forms what may be term-
id doublo doors, leaving an air chamber
cf some eight inches between the two. The
udvantnges of tlie inside being of slip
boards is that tlie boards may be rcmove-d
fiom the top as ico is taken out making
nc gre-at exposure to the outside atmosphere.
As a foundation put in a good bedding
of some non-conductor of heat; spent tan
bark, rye straw, .charcoal and sawdust
are all pvod /or this purpose, but the
latter is th'tf best and tlie others should
be obtained handily.
It is sweet, porous, and does not decay
or become nr.isty so as to affect the ice,
nnd it provides good drainage. Pack up
the cakes when the weather is cold. Fill
all the interstices with pulverized ice,
and then pour on water, and the whole
will be frozen into a solid cake. The cakes
should not be placed against the walls,
but left off a few inches. This space is
to be packed with straw or, what is better, shavings of pine or other resinous
wood will be found most icliable for covering the ice. The more ice is secured in
a  body  the longer  will  it be kept  from
ice keep well in either kind, but lumber is
generally   used. The   house   thould   be
made square. For the average a house
14 feet feet square is large enough. Plank
up the sides ami strip ihe cracks. Put on
a good roof. Have the floor so it will
let all the water froui the melted ice drain
off. If  the  water  docs  not drain  off
the ice melts rapidly.
When ready to pack the ice, get Iresh,
ciean sawdust and put a layer V/_ feet or
2 feet deep in the 1-ottom of the ice house.
Puck solid by tramping or using a maul.
Saw the ice in square blocks as large as
can be handled conveniently. Place these
blocks lies'.de each otlier in the ice house
till ,i block about 10 feet square is formed in the center of the house. Then fill
sawdust around the sides l'A to 2 feet
thick, tramping and pounding it down
solid. Keep filling in ice and pounding
clown sawdust till you have as mucli ice in
the house as you care for. Then place
suwdust 18 inches deep over the top and
tramp solid. Keep tlie sawdust packed
sclid around tlie ice, lis it inells rapidly
and is soon gone when hot weather comes
if this is neglected. But if the ice is
put away when iu good condition, aud is
not rotten, and is placed in a solid block
i': the ice houso, with no sawdust between
the layers, and freezes jolid, as it generally does, and the sawdust is kept packed
solid around the ice block, the farmer
.-nd his family can enjoy ice from their
own ice house all through the hot summer months. I have seeu it keep in
this way till September. If the sawdust
is taken care of, it may be used several
Much Depends on Packing.
od Premium.—For about twelve years I
have put up enough ice- during winter to
havo au ample supply for the warm summer months. We have a house 12 leer
long, 12 feet wide, and 12 feet high to
square, with a roof ou it. We have
placed in this house a lloor about 0 or 8
inches fwm the ground, so as to permit
ventilation underneath. The lloor and
• sides are of rough boards, so as Lo permit any water caused by melting to escape. When the time comes to put in
he, wc thoroughly pack about 1(5 inches
of sawdust on the lloor. We then cut
cur ice into cakis, 18x27 inches, whenever the thickness suits us, which we like
to be from 8 to 10 inches. We cut our
ci.kes ]S.v27 inches so as to form a square
block when [lacked iu house. One must
govern the size of cakes iby tlie size of
leuse. We haul to the ice house on wagon
or sled. In  placing the ice  in the ice
bouse, we like to cross every other layer,
so as to make it perfectly air tight. This
incthol will avoid all trouble experienced
iii ice melting and leaving large holes or
openings whicli will admit ai rand sawdust in the center of your ice block, whicli
causes it to melt all the faster. In the
space between the block and wall, which
should bo about 1(5 inches, we fill and pack
with sawdust. We never .use new sawdust unless none other is obtainable. Like
the dust to be at least one year old. Always us? tlie same dust in house that haa
been used for years, only hauling enough
to cover ice block to the depth of about
1- to 11 inches. We put in 8 or 9 loads
of ice in this way, and always have
plenty to last until cool weather. Put
in 8 loads last year and have at present
t-bout 2 loads left. The ice should be
s:.ved and packed on a cold day, so as to
avoid all melting and checking while packing in ice house. We are about one-
l-.clf mile from gravel pit, where we get
ice, and always put enough away in one
day.
Cine will lie amply repaid for all his
troutile when warm weather arrives. We
i.sre ice in a creamery to keep the cream
at a right temperature after separating it.
We make our own ice cream, iced teas,
etc., etc. Wife says she could not make
lutter in sjinmer without ice auy more.
To try it one year is to always want it.
Howard Co. J. N. S.
Xo. 490, Sept. 30.—(Jive plans of a first
class poultry house.
No. 500, Oct. 7.—How should apples be
gathered arrd stored for winter?
.\o. 501, Oct. 14.—Tell about curing
meats; sides, hams, heads, sausages, etc.
We loarn of the recent death of Mr. C.
M. Avery, of Peoria, 111., president of the
Avery Manufacturing Company. Speaking
of this company reminds us that when a
boy, some 55 years ago, we drove a team
from Danville, Illinois, to Peoria,    about
150 miles, after a load of the Avery steel
mold board plows then a new thing, but
they are good ones.
 .	
Wesee several ways in which the experiment plat on the State Fair grounds,
ran be made more interesting and valuable iu future years. A model farm
garlen, for instance, ought to occupy part
of the space. The effects of deep and
shallov cultivation must be shown, side
by side. The famous Campbell System
can be illustrated, etc., etc.