If you already have an icehouse, then December is the season in which to expect materials to fill the ice house. Have it properly cleaned out of all straw, or other filth, that may have accumulated in it. Have beater and rammers prepared for packing it, when either snow or ice is found in sufficient quantity to fill it. If the ice house is built properly, then either snow or ice will suffice.

Ice, in the hot days of summer, is considered such a luxury that few that can command it like to be without it. The situation for an ice house should be chosen on a dry and somewhat elevated spot of gravelly or chalky ground, and as near to a pond or piece of water as circumstances will admit of. If the situation be shaded by more elevated ground, so much the better, but if it be not naturally so, is may be rendered artificially so by planting. It must be, as much as possible, hidden from the sun's rays.

The form of our ice houses is generally an inverted cone. The London confectioners, as well as most people on the continent, content themselves with keeping it in cellars, surrounded with very thick walls, and without windows, being entered sometimes by straight and sometimes by crooked passages, secured by double and often treble doors, and the ice thickly covered by straw or mats.

The accompanying figure will give an idea of the general plan of ice houses in this country.

In building an ice house, a space of two feet or more should be left at the bottom (a) for receiving any moisture which may drain from the ice in the process of melting. From this space a drain of brickwork (b), set in cement (but which need not be as large as that in the diagram), carries the moisture to a considerable distance. This drain should have a stop or trap for the exclusion of air (c) and over the space at the bottom (a) should be placed a strong grating of wood, to let the moisture fall down, which may at any time proceed from the melting of the ice. The sides of the well must be walled up with brick or stone, at least two feet thick, or the wall may be built hollow.

When the proper height is obtained, the well may be arched over with two arches, with a vacuity inbetween, and leaving in the centre a hole, for the admission of ice (e), and in the sides a door for taking it out (f). This door, the better to exclude air, should open into a porch (g) with the three other doors, the spaces between which should be filled with straw to exclude more effectively the heat of the atmosphere.

The whole being covered first with a covering of tempered clay, and next with a hill of earth. The appearance will not be disagreeable, and may be covered with evergreens.

The exterior may also be decorated, as to become an object of ornament, should it be placed in any part of the dressed grounds.

The size of the house must depend on the quantity of ice which is wanted, but we would recommend to make it rather too large than too small, as it sometimes happens that neither ice nor snow can be procured to fill it. Sometimes London's confectioners have had to procure ice from the polar seas. As snow or ice will keep in a good ice house for two and sometimes three years, it is advisable to have it large enough, and always to fill it when opportunity offers, to guard against a casual scarcity. For an ordinary sized family, a house about ten feet in diameter, and fifteen deep, will be sufficient. For larger families the house must be larger, or for small families a well six feet in diameter, and ten deep, may be sufficient.

Carry on to How to Fill an Ice House.