AND ITS RELATION TO ANIMAL LIFE 43 



in carbohydrates, etc., and as these go to form 

 the large bulk of wheat and other vegetable 

 matter, it follows that a soil poor in available 

 mineral matter will give a poor yield of 

 wheat. 



As outside testimony in support of what I 

 have stated, Professor Tanner, in his report of 

 various grains (which report can be seen hang- 

 ing on a wall of the South Kensington Museum 

 Science Department), shows " how two crops 

 of oats grown upon similar land, under similar 

 conditions of climate, gave different yields, 

 one giving 80 bushels to the acre, and each 

 bushel weighing 4olb., while the other crop only 

 gave 10 bushels to the acre, and each bushel 

 only weighed 22lb. He shows that the flesh, 

 fat, and heat-producing properties of the one 

 were sixteen times greater than the other, and 

 concludes by saying that the 'difference of 

 produce arose from good and bad farming 

 respectively. He also shows that the ash of 

 the one grain was more than sixteen times 

 greater than the ash of the other. 



This great increase in the quantity of the 

 ash goes to prove my statement that the yield 

 of grain is governed by the mineral constituents, 



