* 54 



certain plant requires certain minerals, is one of the 

 principal means by which we can explain satisfac- 

 torily why a certain plant will not grow upon 

 a particular soil where another species may 

 flourish ; and such knowledge will enable us, at the 

 same time, to improve that soil by supplying the 

 absent mineral, or counteracting the injurious 

 influence of others. 



The analysis of the ashes of the different plants 

 enables the educated farmer to select his land for a 

 particular crop or devise some particular mode of im- 

 proving it .; but the more mechanical requirements 

 and necessary properties of the soil, to which I shall 

 refer further on, must not be neglected. These 

 analyses will guide the farmer in the selection of 

 certain manures for certain crops, having due 

 regard for the requirements of different soils. 

 Those analyses have now all been made by the 

 most reliable authorities, and as a complete list of 

 them may be useful, I think I may appropriately 

 give them here in toto : 



Table showing the quantity of inorganic matters in 100 parts 

 of different plants dried at 212 degrees. 



SEEDS. 



Wheat 1-97 



Barley 2'48 



Oats (with Husk) 3'80 



(withoutHusk) 2'06 



Bye 2-00 



Millet , 3-60 



Rice .. 0-37 



Maize 1-20 



Pease 2'88 



Beans 3'22 



Kidney Beans 4-09 



Lentils 2-51 



Tares : 2-60 



Buckwheat 2'13 



Linseed ... .. 4-40 



