ABSORPTION OF HUMUS. li 



Other considerations of a higher nature confute the common 

 view respecting the nutritive office of humic acid, in a manner 

 so clear and conclusive that it is difficult to conceive how it 

 could have been so generally adopted. 



Fertile land produces carbon in the form of wood, hay, grain, 

 and other kinds of growth, the masses of which differ in a re- 

 markable degree. 



2650 lbs. of firs, pines, beeches, &c, grow annually as wood 

 upon one Hessian acre of forest-land with an average soil. The 

 same superficies yields 2500 lbs. of hay. 



A similar surface of corn-land gives from 18,000 to 20,000 

 lbs. of beet- root ; or 800 lbs. of rye, and 1780 lbs. of straw, — in 

 all 2580 lbs. 



One hundred parts of dry fir- wood contain 38 parts of carbon ; 

 therefore, 2650 lbs. contain 1007 lbs. of carbon. 



One hundred 'parts of hay,* dried in air, contain 40*73 parts 

 carbon. Accordingly, 2500 lbs. of hay contain 1018 lbs. of 

 carbon. 



Beet-roots contain from 89 to 89*5 parts water, and from 10*5 

 to 11 parts solid matter, which contains 40 per cent, of carbon. f 



20,000 lbs. of beet-root contain, therefore, 880 lbs. of carbon, 

 the quantity of this element in the leaves and small roots not 

 being included in the calculation. 



One hundred parts of straw,:}: dried in air, contain 38 per cent. 

 of carbon ; therefor % 1780 lbs. of straw contain 676 lbs. of 

 carbon. One hundred parts of corn contain 43 parts of carbon; 

 800 lbs. must therefore contain 344 lbs. ; in all 1020 lbs. of 

 carbon. 



* 100 parts of hay, dried at 100° C (212° F.) and burned with oxide of 

 copper in a stream of oxygen gas, yielded 5193 water, 166 8 caibonicacid, 

 and 6S2 of ashes. This gives 45 87 carbon, 5*76 hydrogen. 41*55 oxygen, 

 and 6 82 ashes. Hay, dried in the air, loses 11'2 p. c. water at 100° C. 

 (212° F.)— Dr. Will. 



f I. 0*8075 of dry beet gave 0*416 water and 1*155 carbonic acid. II 

 0*400 gave 0*201 water, and 0*595 carbonic acid. — Dr. Will. 



% Straw analysed in the same manner, and dried at 100° C, gave 46*37 

 p. c. of carbon, 5*68 p. c. of hydrogen, 43*93 p. c. of oxygen and 4*02 p. c. 

 of ashes. Straw dried in the air at 100° C. lost 18 p. c. of water.— Dm. 

 Will. j : 



