The Elements in Plants 21 



PROPORTIONS OF THE ELEMENTS IN PLANTS AND 

 ANIMALS 



The facts which have been reviewed concerning the 

 elements out of which the tissues of plants and animals 

 are built are properly supplemented by a statement of 

 the proportions in which these are found in living or- 

 ganisms. This information is necessary to an under- 

 standing of the relations of supply and demand which 

 exist between the vegetable and animal kingdoms and 

 the raw materials of the inorganic world. 



In Plants. It is estimated by a German scientist, 

 Knop, that if all the species of the vegetable kingdom, 

 exclusive of the fungi, were fused into one mass, the 

 ultimate composition of the dry matter of this mixture 

 would be the following: 



Per cent 



Carbon 45. 



Oxygen 42* 



Hydrogen 6-5 



Nitrogen. 1.5 



Mineral compounds ( ash) 5 



The composition of various single species or of parts 

 of a plant, such as the fruit or straw, shows "consid- 

 erable variations from these average figures: 



-Percentages- 



Carbon Oxygen Hydrogen Nitrogen (Ash) 



Clover hay 47.4 37.8 5. 2.1 7.7 



Wheat kernel .... 46.1 43.4 5.8 2.3 2.4 



Wheat straw 48.4 38.9 5.3 .4 7.0 



Fodder beets 42.8 43.4 5.8 1.7 6-3 



Fodder beet leaves 38.1 30.8 5.1 4.5 21.5 



