AMERICAN JOURNAL 



OF 



AGRICULTURE AND SCIENCE. 



No. XII. APRIL, 1847. 



DISTRIBUTION OF THE INORGANIC MATTER IN 

 VEGETABLES. 



BY E. EMMONS. 



1. The distribution of the inorganic matter of plants, has 

 hitherto received but little attention. M. A. Vogel has examined 

 the ash of a few fruits; M. A. Leuchtvveiss the ashes of the seeds 

 of the cannabis sativa; Kleinschmidt the ash of the acorn; and 

 M. Poleck the seeds of the pinus picea and sylvestris. The in- 

 organic matter of a few only of the woody plants has received the 

 attention of chemists at different times; and hence it must be ac- 

 knowledged that the ash of the forest and fruit trees have been 

 hitherto greatly neglected. And when it is considered that much 

 light may be thrown upon their cultivation, by trustworthy analy- 

 ses of their ashes, it is somewhat surprising that the subject 

 has received so little attention by the active chemists of the pre- 

 sent day. 



The value of analyses of the ash of cultivated plants, is well 

 set forth in a memoir on the ash of the oat, by Mr. Norton, which 

 received the premium of the Highland Agricultural Society of 

 Scotland, in 1846. 



The same may be said of Mr. Horsford's analysis of the red 

 clover, in Baron Liebig's laboratory at Giessen, about the same 

 time. 



The earliest recorded labors in this field of enquiry, are those of 

 Saussure. He first established the importance of the inorganic 

 constituents of vegetables; but in consequence of the defective 

 method of quantative analysis pursued at the time his labors 

 were in progress, he failed to recognize the most important ele- 

 ments contained in the ash. The merit, however, still remains 

 with Saussure, of having in the first place proved the importance 

 of the inorganic constituents of plants. 



Vol. v., No. 12. 12 



