A house 12 ft. square by 8 or 9 ft. high is large enough for a good-sized family. It may be a frame building, entirely above the surface of the ground, and better if supported on posts, elevated a few inches, to be certain of good drainage. Build of joists, 2x3 in., with an outer boarding, having inside another series of uprights, also boarded, from 6 to 10 in. removed from the outer shell, with a solid floor of plank, the space between the two walls filled with tan, sawdust, straw or chaff, and a roof of good pitch. A drain for water should be made from the floor, and the space above the uprights, between a loose flooring and the pitch of the roof, filled with straw, hay, or some other dry, porous material. On the roof should be a ventilator, the top defended from rain or snow. The ice should be packed in one solid mass, the sides not reaching the inner walls, but allowing a space of from 6 to 12 in. all around. The top of the ice should be covered with straw, and the door should be like the sides of the building, or double doors should be made, one in the outer and the other in the inner wall. Plant morning-glories or any other climbing plant about the building, and train them up over the roof, so that their foliage will serve as a protection against the sun.