49 EVOLUTION AND GROWTH. 



FIFTH EXPERIMENT. 



VEGETATION OF OATS. 



I always failed in my attenipts to transfer wheat plants from the 

 ordinary soil in which the grain had been sown to barren sand ; they 

 never survived the transplantation. It was not different with oat 

 plants ; they also always died. It was at first supposed that the 

 delicate radicles of these plants had been injured in the process of 

 taking them up and freeing their roots from adhering vegetable soil ; 

 but I soon saw that this could not have been the case, for the same 

 plants, treated precisely in the same manner, took very promptly 

 when transplanted to garden mould, and even when they were put 

 with their roots in pure water. It was with water, therefore, that 

 the following experiment was conducted. 



June 20th, several oat plants were taken up from a field, and their 

 roots were washed and cleansed. 



Three plants preserved for analysis, weighed 159.011 grs. 



Four plants, the subjects of experiment, weighed '22 1. 844 grs. 

 troy. They were protected from dust, their roots dipping into a 

 vessel containmg distilled water, which was regularly kept up to 

 the same level. By the middle of July the stalks of these plants 

 had grown to twice their former length ; and at this time it would 

 have been difficult to have distinguished them from those growing 

 in the open field. By liie end of July the clusters had formed ; and 

 on the lOlh of August the grain seemed ripe. It was, therefore, 

 taken up and dried in the stove, and reduced to powder to complete 

 the desiccation at 110" cent. (230" Fahr.) 



ANALVSIS OK THE CROP. 



Tran«plan(«d. Gathcnd from Om laid. 



Carbon 53.0 48.0 



HydroRcn 6.8 6.3 



Oxygen 36.4 44.0 



Azote 3.8 1-7 



100.0 100.0 



SUMMARY. 



Carbon. Hyilroj^n. Oxygfn Atet*. 



The oats when transplanted 



conuiined 12.967 1.636 8.770 0.910 



After 48 days of prowlh In dis- 

 tilled water tliey confined -23 . 157 2-979 21180 0.818 



+ 10.190 +1.343 +12.410 -O.OW 



The analysis, therefore, indicates a trifling loss of azote. 



In recapitulating the conclusions obtained from these experiments, 

 we find : 



First. That trefoil and peas grown in a soil absolutely without 

 manure, acquired a very ajjprociable quantity of azote, in addition to 

 a large quantity of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. 



