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be placed should be perfectly dry and well ventilated.
The box should be made of the best material, long
and large enough, and sufficiently convenient to serve
the purposes of your present trade, and even larger
than the present demands, to meet the possible re
quirements of a growing business. It is much better
to have it built sufficiently large for the future time
so that you may not be troubled by having it enlarged
or altered.
The ice box should not be nailed together, but built
in sections, which are joined together by-screws. It
might happen that it was necessary to remove the
ice box to some other -place, and this could readily be
done when it is in sections. Otherwise you would
destroy the box in tearing it apart. The bottom of
the box should, particularly, be made of the best
lumber. Before the bottom of the box is filled with
charcoal or sawdust, it is proper to put in a layer of
good, solid felt paper, op. both sides of the wood, so
that the filling is packed between the two layers of
paper. This will prevent air or heat from entering
in between the cracks and crevices which would' ob
viously heighten the temperature and evaporate ,the
cold air. The side walls of the box should be made
the same as the bottom, and they should reach as high
as the ceiling of the basement or cellar, unless the
ceiling is extraordinarily high. In that case, the box
should be made the average height, which is about six
feet six inches. The vacantspace above the boxshould
be boarded, filled, and boxed up with felt paper, right
against the ceiling, in order to keep the hot air from
settling down on the top of the box.
When you are obliged to have a large-sized box for
your business, it may be possible that one door is not
enough, when, of course, two should be made. Have
the ice chamber constructed so that it will only come
down as far as to allow the placing of barrels under-