204 Distribution of Inorganic Matter in Vegetables. [April, 



its rich brown color. While it may be laid down then, with a 

 good degree of certainty, that the phosphates are always impor- 

 tant elements in the manures for trees, still, in these cases, as in 

 the apple-tree and pear, where the proportion of ash is small and 

 light, it is a natural inference that manures, rich also in organic 

 matter, is the one best adapted to them. Experience also coin- 

 cides with this view. 



Phosphate of magnesia is not a common salt in the ash of vege- 

 tables, except in the cereals; and when present in the wood, its 

 quantity is small. In many instances, where it was carefully 

 sought for in the ash of the wood, none w^as found; in a few others 

 it w'as present in a small quantity. 



In green wood the water is distributed to the periphery. The 

 sap or new w^ood, and the wood of the young limbs, contain 

 usually a larger proportion of water than the inside wood. The 

 bark of the young wood receives about the same quantity of sap 

 as the wood. In the old bark of the trunk, it is reduced to a 

 minimum quantity. 



From the foregoing per centages of water contained in diiferent 

 kinds of wood, it will be easy to calculate how much water exists 

 in a cord of green w'ood, the weight of which may be approxi- 

 mately set down as equal to two thousand pounds; and also how 

 much water has to be evaporated in burning green instead of dry 

 wood. The caloric thus expended is mostly lost, in the ordinary 

 processes of heating rooms. The weight of water sometimes 

 amounts to nearly one-half of the w-ood. Its carriage to market 

 is a useless item of expense. 



Another element, whose distribution is to the periphery of the 

 plant, is potash. Instances, however, are not wanting, in which 

 it seems to have accumulated in the inside wood. In the ostrya 

 virginica, the wood of the small limbs contained twenty per cent 

 of potash. The treee grows in the back yard of the old State 

 House, wdiere it receives the entire w^ash from the kitchen of a 

 family living in the establishment. It is not impossible but that 

 this accumulation of potash may be temporary; that if the wood 

 should be examined about mid-summer, it would contain less 

 potash than during the winter season. It is useless to form con- 

 jectures in questions of this kind, since they can be answered only 

 by experiments; and still it is a rational conclusion, that the 

 alkalies may vary in amount with the season at which the analy- 

 sis may be made. 



The most important direction, however, which the alkalies take, 

 is towards the seed and its envelopes. The potash in the acorn 

 amounts to sixty-ibur per cent; in the horse-chestnut, fifty-one. 

 In the envelope of the fruit of the black-walnut, I found seventy- 

 five per cent of the carbonate of potash, and about twenty-five to 



