COMPOSITION OF VEGETABLE MATTER. 



35 



ist's labratory ; but no chemist has yet produced starch or 

 v;oody fiber, or sugar, or milk, or flesh, by jcombining the 

 -elements of these substances. This is an important distinc- 

 tion and is likely to exist permanently ; although one can- 

 not safely say what chemistry may not be able to perform 

 in the direction of producing these articles of food, and of 

 textile fiber, for which the world is now indebted to the art 

 of agriculture, and so make the farmers labors useless. At 

 present it is easy for the chemist to take apart, to analyze , 

 but to put together and construct, has so far eluded all his 

 skill, excepting in a very few instances. 



The four organic elements enter into the constitution ot 

 plants in variable proportions. The following table shows 

 the precise quantity of each element contained in 1000 parts 

 by weight of the vegetable substances mentioned. 



Carbon. Hydrogen. Oxygen. Nitrogen. Ash. 



Hay from young clover 487 GG 369 38 40 



Oats 507 04 367 22 40 



Clover seed 494 58 350 70 28 



Ripe Hay '. 471 56 349 24 100 



Peas 465 61 401 42 31 



Wheat 455 57 431 34 23 ^ 



Hay 458 ,"0 287 15 90 



Potatoes...... 441 58 439 12 50 



The above named products were dried at a heat of 230 

 degrees, sufficient to expel all the moisture from them. The 

 quantity of water thus extracted was as follows : 



1000 parts of potatoes., lost 722 parts of water. 



wheat 100 



early cut hay 158 



late hay 140 



oats 151 



cloverseed 112 



peas ' 80 



A large quantity cf water is contained in the crops grown 

 upon farms even when they are dried for use. When en- 

 tirely free from water, the carbon is nearly one-half the 

 weight ; the oxygen is more than one-third ; the hydrogen 

 about 5 per cent, and the nitrogen varies from 1J to 7 per 

 cent.; the variation being greater than that of any other of 

 these elements. These proportions represent very nearly 



