THE ASH CONSTITUENTS OF PLANTS. 



309 



presumed that under sxwh condition.s the}^ will take up dillorent 

 amounts, and accordingly will show^ varying- percentages of these mate- 

 rials in their ash. Plants grown in lime soils contain more lime than 

 those grown in sandy soils originating from sandstone. For example, 

 Wunder^ reports that turnips grown in a clay soil rich in lime con- 

 tained d.'IS per cent of lime in the ash, while those grown in a sandy 

 soil poor in lime contained only 5.47 per cent. Grapevine wood from 

 a soil poor in lime and composed of gneiss, schist, and (juartz con- 

 tained, according to Hruschauer," 32.16 per cent of lime and 34.13 per 

 cent of potash in the ash, w^hile that from a lime soil contained 37.16 

 per cent of lime and 24.93 per cent of potash in the ash. 



Enmierling and Wagner^ report that hay made from peat}' meadows 

 poor in fertilizing ingredients contained 26.30 per cent of potash, 6.50 

 per cent of lime, and 5.11 per cent of phosphoric acid in the ash, while 

 ha}' from a good marsh soil contained 37.30 per cent of potash, 9.83 

 per cent of lime, and 7.28 per cent of phosphoric acid in the a.sh. On 

 the other hand, the ash of the hay from the poor soil contained 41.82 

 per cent of silicic acid, while that from the other contained onl}^ 21.37 

 per cent.* 



From an examination of oats grown on different soils Atterberg^ 

 found a quite variable content of potash, phosphoric acid, lime, etc., 

 in 1,000 parts of the stalk, seed, and leaves. 



INFLUENCE OF FERTILIZERS. 



The composition of the ash varies especialh' when the soil is ferti- 

 lized with varying amounts of the diti'erent ash ingredients in availal)le 

 form. Of the very many evidences of this, only a few cases can be 

 cited. The ash of the sugar beet grown with different fertilizers con- 

 tained, according to Hanamann," the following: 



Potiish, lime, and pliosphoric acid hi as]i of sugar beets. 



Without fertilizers 



Willi ].i>tasli 



With phrisphoric aeid 



In other investigations: 



Wiihont fertilizers 



With potash , 



With phosphoric acid . 



Phosiihoric 

 acid. 



Per cent. 

 5.7S 

 3.41 

 10.33 



12. .32 

 13.88 

 16.34 



1 Landw. Vers. Stat., 4 (1862), p. 264. 



Myolff's Aschen-Analyge, pt. 1, p. 114; E. Wolff, Chemische Fom-huni.'i'ii aiif 

 deni Gebiete der Agricnlturcheniie u. Ptlanzenphysiologie, 1847, p. 322. 



'Centlil. Agr. Chem., 8 (1875), p. 838. 



*It should be noted that the grasH growing on thet^e two soil.s was not of the .same 

 kind. 



Mour. Landw., 49 (1901), p. 97. 



^Landw. Jahrb., 7 (1878), p. 795; 8 (1879), p. 823; Jour. Landw., i876, p. 41. 



1040i>— Xo. 4 2 



