173 Dlslribution of Inorgcuiic Sdatttr ia Vcgdalles. [April, 



Berthier also made many analyses of the ash of the different 

 kinds of wood; but his objects were not particularly designed for 

 the improvement of agriculture. He however discovered an im- 

 portant fact, that the nature of the ash was changed by the com- 

 position of the soil in which the tree grew. But a still more 

 important fact, and which agreed with the observation of Saus- 

 sure, was, that the ash of different species of trees growing in the 

 same soil, were different; and hence the doctrine may be said to 

 have been established to a certain extent, that the roots of plants 

 possess the pov.-er of selecting the inorganic matters stored up in 

 their tissues. Other chemists, pursuing the same train of enquiry 

 synthetically, have shown that certain elements in the soil are es- 

 sential to the perfection of the seed; and that, for the full de- 

 velopment and maturation of fruit, both organic matter and the 

 phosphates must be present in the soil. 



2. If there is one arrangement more beautiful than another, in 

 the disribution of the inorganic matter of vegetables, it is that by 

 which is secured the accumulation of all the elements which are 

 necessary to the growth of a plant in its seed; for, regarding it, 

 as we undoubtedly may, as analagous to the egg of animals, we 

 find the substances which are necessary for the nutrition of the 

 young plant stored up for sustenance, whenever germination takes 

 place. Hence the young plant, for a time, or in the first stage of 

 development, is placed in a position independent of the soil. In 

 the seed then, especially, the inorganic matter is stored up in a 

 condition to meet the immediate wants of the embryo plant, the 

 stock of which in a perfect seed is sufficient to administer to its 

 growth and its existence, until it can supply itself from the great 

 storehouse, the earth. 



3. Pursuing a little farther the history of the annlsyses of the 

 ash of vegetables, it will be seen, on consulting the work entitled 

 Rural Economy, that Boussingault has been one of the most active 

 in studying analytically the composition of the ash of vegetables. 

 The special object of his enquiry was the determination of the 

 amount of the inorganic matter removed in the crop. The prob- 

 lem itself is an important one, as by its determination the farmer 

 could easily calculate how much of the valuable constituents were 

 removed, and perhaps sold in his hay, oats and potatoes, all of 

 which would be forever lost to his soil. He would be able to cal- 

 culate how far this exhausting process might be carried, without 

 much detriment to it; and when, in the ordinary process or 

 course of cropping, he must cease to exhaust his land, and must 

 begin to restore to it what had been removed. 



4. Another important fact, which 1 may with propriety refer 

 to in this place, is the absence of alumina in the ash of vegeta- 

 bles hitherto examined. This is the more remarkable, from the 



