36* LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI.
iron, but the ammonia which was being breathed through them had
coated them to the thickness of your hand with solid milk-white ice.
It ought to have melted; for one did not require winter clothing in
that atmosphere: but it did not melt; the inside of the pipe was too
cold.
Sunk into the floor were numberless tin boxes, a foot square and
two feet long, and open at the top end. These were full of clear
water; and around each box, salt and other proper stuff was packed;
also, the ammonia gases were applied to the water in some way which
will always remain a secret to me, because I was not able to under-
stand the process. While the water in the boxes gradually froze, men
gave it a stir or two with a stick occasionally— to liberate the air-
bubbles, I think. Other men were continually lifting out boxes
whose contents had become hard frozen. They gave the box a single
dip into a vat of boiling water, to melt the block of ice free from its
tin coffin, then they shot the block out upon a platform car, and it
was ready for market. These big blocks were hard, solid, and crystal-
clear. In certain of them, big bouquets of fresh and brilliant tropical
flowers had been frozen-in; in others, beautiful silken-clad French
dolls, and other pretty objects. These blocks were to be set on end
in a platter, in the centre of dinner-tables, to cool the tropical air;
and also to be ornamental, for the flowers and things imprisoned ia
them could be seen as through plate glass. I was told that this fac-
tory could retail its ice, by waggon, throughout New Orleans, in the
humblest dwelling-house quantities, at six or seven dollars a ton, and
make a sufficient profit. This being the case, there is business for
ice-factories in the North; for we get ice on no such terms there, if
one take less than three hundred and fifty pounds at a delivery.
The Bosalie Yarn Mill, of Natchez, has a capacity of 6,000
spindles and 160 looms, and employs 100 hands. The Natchez
Cotton Mills Company began operations four years ago in a
two-*tory building of 50x190 feet, with 4,000 spindles and 128
looms; capital $105,000, all subscribed in the town. Two years
lafeer, the same stockholders increased their capital to $225,000;
added a third story to the mill, increased its length to 317 feet; added
maeliinery to increase iihe capacity to 10,300 spindles and 304 looms.
The company now employ 250 operatives, many of whom are citizens