THE ASH OF PLANTS. 127 



the list includes all the elementary substances that belong 

 to agricultural vegetation. 



Hydrogen is never an ingredient of the perfectly 

 burned and dry ash of any plant. 



Nitrogen may remain in the ash under certain con- 

 ditions in the form of a Cyanide (compound of Carbon 

 and Nitrogen), as will be noticed hereafter. 



Besides the above, certain other elements are found, either occasion- 

 ally in common plants, or in some particular kind of vegetation ; these 

 are Iodine, Bromine, Fluorine, Titanium, Boron, Arsenic, Lithium, 

 Rubidium, Barium, Aluminum, Zinc, Copper. These elements, how- 

 ever, so far as known, have no special importance in agricultural 

 chemistry, and mostly require no further notice. 



We may now complete our study of the Composition 

 of the Plant by attending to a description of those ele- 

 ments that are peculiar to the ash, and of those com- 

 pounds which may occur in it. 



It will be convenient also to describe in this section 

 some substances, which, although not ingredients of the 

 ash, may exist in the plant, or are otherwise important 

 to be considered. 



The Non-metallic Elements, which we shall first 

 notice, though differing more or less widely among them- 

 selves, have one point of resemblance, viz., they and their 

 compounds with each other have acid properties, i. e., 

 they either are acids in the ordinary sense of being sour 

 to the taste, or enact the part of acids by uniting to met- 

 als or metallic oxides to form salts. We may, therefore, 

 designate them as tbe acid elements. They are Oxygen, 

 Sulphur, Phosphorus, Carbon, Silicon, and Chlorine. 



With the exception of Silicon, and the denser forms of 

 Carbon, these elements by themselves are readily volatile. 

 Their compounds with each other, which may occur in 

 vegetation, are also volatile, with two exceptions, viz., 

 Silicic and Phosphoric acids. 



In order that they may resist the high temperature at 

 which ashes are formed, they must be combined with the 

 metallic elements or their oxides as salts. 



