84 



THE NURSERY- MANUAL 



are curious about such devices may consult the older Euro- 

 pean works, and he will find brief descriptions in the previous 



editions of the "Nurs- 

 ery-Book." 



Barnard's propagat- 

 ing-tank, Fig. 83, is a 

 practicable device for 

 attachment to a com- 

 mon stove. A similar 

 apparatus may be con- 

 nected to the pipes 

 of a greenhouse. The 

 tank consists of a long 



FIG. 84. Zinc propagacing-tank. wooden box of matched 



boards and put together with paint between the joints to 

 make it water-tight. The box should be about 3 feet wide 

 and 10 inches deep, and 10 to 30 feet long, according to the 

 space required. In the middle of the box is a partition, ex- 

 tending nearly the whole length, and on the inside, on each 

 side, is a ledge or piece of molding to support slate slabs to 

 be laid over the entire surface of the box. The slates are sup- 

 ported by the ledges and by the central partition, and should 

 be fastened down with cement to prevent the propagating- 

 sand from falling into the tank. One slate is left out near the 

 end, next the fire, to enable the operator to see the water and to 

 keep it at the right level. Sand is spread on the slates, in 

 which the cuttings may be struck, the sand nearly filling the 

 box. At one end of the box is placed a common cylinder, stove, 

 with smoke-pipe to the chimney. Inside the stove is an iron 

 pipe, bent in a spiral. This coil, which is directly in the fire, 

 is connected by pipes with the tank, one pipe leading to one 

 side of the partition and the other to the opposite side, as 

 shown in the drawing. If water is placed in the tank, it will 

 fill the pipes and form a continuous circulating system through 



