152 [Senate 



of a little practical science, good wheat may be grown profitably in 

 any county in the State. 



This plant has been raised in a great variety of artificial soils,- 

 where each ingredient was carefully weighed, both before and after 

 the plant was taken from the earth. By careful analysis, what the 

 soil had lost, and what the plant had gained, was susceptible of de- 

 monstration. A very large portion of the elements of all cultivated 

 plants comes from the atmosphere. The precise amount dependinff 

 alike on the composition of the soil and the nature of the particular 

 plant upon which the experiment was made, 



I regard it as a fact of great practical importance, that wood asheSy 

 even leached ashes, so abundant in the southern tier of counties, con- 

 tain all the earthy elements of this invaluable bread-bearing plant, 

 Compare the following table, showing the constituents of beech ash,, 

 with that of wheat ash. This is also taken from Sprengel : 



Beech Ash„ 



Silica (sand,) 5 .52 



Alumina (basis of clay,) . . « 2.33 



Oxide of iron, 3 .77 



" manganese, 3 . 85 



Lime, 25.00 



Potash, , 22.11 



Soda, "3 . 32 



Sulphuric acid, ... . 7.65 



Phosphoric acid, 5 . 62 



Chlorine, 1.84 



Carbonic acid, 14 . 00 



100.00 



Maple, birch and other wood, contain the same minerals. 



Note the 25 per cent of lime in the above analysis, being larger 

 than that of potash. Our primitive forests have been for centuries 

 drawing the above earthy constituents of wheat from the soil. And 

 instead of carefully preserving this indispensable raw material of 

 good wheaten bread, thousands of bushels of leached ashes have been 

 thrown away ! Being but slowly decomposed by the vital action of 

 plants, ashes are an enduring fertilizer, when compared with stable 

 manure. Mixed with quicklime, their good effects are more speedi- 

 ly obtained. Lime will render alumina either in the soil or in leach- 

 ed ashes, soluble in water, so that it can enter the minute pores of 

 roots. Clay in the soil is always combined with a large portion of 

 silica, and before it has been exhausted by continuous cropping, it 

 holds in combination considerable potash and soda. Lime, by com- 

 bining with alumina, the basis of clay, liberates these alkalies and 

 silica, w^hich uniting chemically, form soluble silicates of potash and 

 soda. These also enter into the circulating nourishment of plants, 

 and are decomposed in the stems of grasses and cereals. The silica 

 goes to make vegetable bone, to keep the plant upright, while the 

 potash and soda go back to the earth to dissolve as before, another 



