COMPOSITION OF PLANTS 



CHAPTEB VIII. Compootiok Of Pla] 



40. Moisture. — When fresh, green grass is cut and 

 dried in the sun it withers and dies, losing much of its 

 original weight, and forms what is called hay. If dry 

 and up fine nn«l carefully dried in an own or 

 orer 1 slow fire, it losei -till more weight, and in time 

 beeom tly dry. Plants dried hy the sun and air 



lid to be AIR-i»i:ii:i». and those dried by artificial 

 heat are said to be chemically-dried. The reason 

 plants lose weight when they are dried is because the 

 moisture in the plants ii driven <>1T by the heat. To 



that this is true take any < -mvenient dish, fill it 

 With green plants, and heat it gently ovi r a slow fire. 

 When the dish becomes thoroughly warm hold srtme 



bject, such as I eold, eloan plate, over it ;n 



h«»w the moisture on the surfa. 



lb grass rut and driod in the sun loses three* 

 fourths or more of its original weight, and when artifi- 

 cially dried losef SO per cent or more of its original 

 weight ':irni crops and trees are made up of from 



fourths to four-fifths water, and some plants con- 

 tain even as much as 90 per cent water. Different 

 plants, and different parts of the same plants, contain 

 different amounts of waiter. The seeds appear 



tly dry, yet if they are ground up and heated they 

 lose about one-tenth of their weight, which is moisture. 

 Wood when first cut is said to be green, and though 

 apparently dry, contains moisture, most of which is lost 



