7 

 ASH ANALYSIS OF FRUIT WITH STEMS. 



The results of the ash analyses of the currants are calculated and 

 reported with reference only to the several constituents mentioned in 

 the above statement, for the purpose of rendering the variations in 

 their quantitative relations more conspicuous. Other ash constituents 

 as sulphur, chlorine, and silica are for the present for various reasons 

 excluded from the discussion. A careful consideration of the compo- 

 sition of the ash obtained from fruits raised upon the unfertilized 

 plat (IV) , as compared with any of those obtained from fruits raised 

 upon the fertilized plats, cannot fail to lead to the conclusion that 

 the unfertilized soil contained an ample supply of available phos- 

 phoric acid, magnesia, soda, aud iron ; for even an actual addition 

 of these important plant constituents in the form of fertilizer to the 

 soil of plats I, III and V, failed to increase the quantity of these 

 constituents above that found in the ash of fruits raised upon the 

 unfertilized plat. The only ash constituent in which the unfertilized 

 soil seems apparently to have been deficient, is available potassa. 



An addition of potash compounds to the soil has in every instance 

 increased the percentage of potassa in the fruits, varying from 

 six to eleven and more per cent. The fruit gathered from plat five 

 showed the most remarkable difference in that direction. Potash 

 fertilizers have decidedly improved desirable qualities in the fruits ; 

 those from plat five proved the most saccharine. 



Aside from the practical lessons which may be gleaned from the 

 above described experiment, there is another feature of the analyt- 

 ical results deserving a serious consideration, — namely the increase 

 of potassa in the currants is invariably accompanied by a correspond- 

 ing decrease of phosphoric acid, aud of lime in particular. This 

 result coincides with my previous observations, concerning the action 

 of potash fertilizers on grapes, strawberries and peaches. The cir- 

 cumstance that the most striking alterations in the mineral constitu- 



