THE NUTRITION AND BIO 

 CHEMISTRY OF PLANTS 



D. R. HOAGLAND, professor of plant nutrition, college of 

 agriculture; plant physiologist, agricultural experiment 



STATION, university OF CALIFORNIA 



OTHER writers for this volume will discuss the biochemistry 

 of plants in relation to photosynthesis, plant hormones, 

 and the activities of microorganisms. The present article is, there- 

 fore, devoted primarily to an attempt to indicate the need and the 

 opportunities for research on the biochemistry of higher plants, es- 

 pecially plants of agricultural interest, as a foundation for the adequate 

 understanding of many problems of plant nutrition and of plant 

 physiology. This field of inquiry is relatively undeveloped in the 

 modern period in comparison with the biochemistry of higher animals 

 and of microorganisms, with its remarkable record of achievement 

 during the past quarter of a century. The importance of the bio- 

 chemistry of the higher plants for the cycles of living organisms in 

 general, and for the basic occupation of agriculture is too obvious to 

 require analysis. 



The disparity of achievement in fundamental biochemical re- 

 search dealing with higher plants, on the one hand, and with the higher 

 forms of aniinal organisms and some groups of microorganisms on the 

 other, becomes apparent on examination of recent monographs dealing 

 with advances in biochemistry. They are predominantly concerned 

 with experiments on animal tissues, or on microorganisms, and the 

 majority of contributors are associated with medical research in- 



6i 



