Keeping the room as air-tight as possible tends to preserve the ice. Whenever the house is opened the warm air enters, and vapor will collect above the ice. This should be given an opportunity to escape, by opening the ventilator doors in the loft floor. [Illustration: FIG. 54. HOUSE ICE SAW.] [Illustration: FIG. 55. RAISING CHISEL BAR.] [Illustration: FIG. 56. STRIKING-UNDER BAR.] [Illustration: FIG. 57. DUNNAGE SHOVEL.] As the ice is taken from the house, the covering of sawdust should be kept in place over the ice as far as possible. If the space over the ice is sealed up, the air, being above the freezing point, becomes saturated with moisture, which settles upon the ice, softening and melting it. When the outside air is cooler than that over the ice or in the loft, the moist air is driven out, if the ventilators are open. Hence, in clear weather, the ventilators should be opened at night. In foggy or damp weather, ventilators should be kept closed. IN TAKING OUT ICE from the house, it is a good plan to take out three tiers across the house at once. The upper tier is worked a little in advance of the second, which is in advance of the lower, or third, course. This gives a sloping front, on which ice from the top can be lowered without breaking, and work can progress on the three courses at the same time. The covering can also be readily handled. The tools employed are the house ice saw, raising-chisel bar and striking-under bar. The saw has a narrow point, with a double row of teeth for cutting down into the crevices around the cakes, and a handle arranged to place pressure on the point of the saw. The raising-chisel bar is used for cutting around the sides. The striking-under bar is struck under the bottom of the cake, to loosen it from the cake beneath. Where ice has been packed in double cakes the hand ice plow is sometimes employed to open the grooves, and the splitting chisel for separating the cakes. The ice is run out to the door on the house runs, or skids. The house tools not illustrated elsewhere are shown below. LOWERING THE ICE.--There are several methods employed for dropping the ice down from the top of the ice to the level of the cars or wagons below. Gravity is the force usually employed. Ice-gigs, with a counterweight to return the empty gig to the level of the ice, are, in one form or another, mostly in use. They can be mounted on a wheeled platform, and moved from door to door, as desired. PACKING FOR SHIPMENT.--When ice is loaded into cars it is covered with marsh hay; any crevices at doors or windows are carefully packed with hay, to keep out the air. Shavings and sawdust are also employed. When shipped to a distance, the floors and sides of the cars are lined, and in the South each cake is packed in sawdust and done up in burlap. [Illustration: FIG. 58. LOWERING GIG AND TRACK.]