ASSIMILATION OF ELEMENTS. 4S 



an excess of 0.042 gramme, or 0.649 grs. troy, above the azote of the 

 seed sown. 



SECOND EXPERIMENT. 



GROWTH OF PEAS. 



Five peas, very nearly of the same weight, and together weighing 

 1.211 gramme, or 18.69 grs. troy, were planted on the 9th of May, in 

 a soil of recently burned clay in rough powder. On the 16th of July, 

 the plants began to bloom, each pea having furnished a stem bearing 

 a single flower. 



On the 15th of August the pods were quite ripe ; the stems were 

 then from 39 to 40 inches in height. The leaves were smaller than 

 those of the same peas grown in manured earth. The length of the 

 pods was about 1.27 inch, by a breadth of about 0.43 inch. Four 

 of these pods each contained two seeds ; the fifth had only one, but 

 it was much longer than any of the others. 



The nine peas gathered and dried in the sun, weighed 1.674 gram., 

 or 25.84 grs. ; after desiccation in vacuo, at 110° C, (230'" F.,) they 

 weighed 1.507 gram., or 23.26 grs. troy ; on combustion they yielded 

 0.9 per cent, of residue. 



The roots, the stems, the pods, and the leaves, dried at 230° F., 

 weighed 3.314 gram., or 51.16 grs. troy; and by combu.*tion gave 

 10 3 per cent, of ashes. 



As the result of several experiments, it was ascertained that peas, 

 exactly in the condition of those which had been planted, contained 

 91.4 per cent, of dry matter, and left by incineration 3.14 per cent. 

 t^ residue. The five peas planted, taken as dry and free from ashes, 

 V >uld therefore have weighed 1.072 gram., or 16.54 grs. troy. 



A-naiysis showed in the 



Pea* town. Peat collected. Straw and rootfc 



Carbon 48.0 54.9 52.8 



Hydrogen 6.4 6.8 6.2 



Azote 4.3 3.6 1.6 



Oxygen 41.3 34.7 39.4 



100.0 100.0 100.0 



RESULTS. 



Carbon. Hydrog^en. Oxygen. Axote. 



Seeds 16..549, containing 7.950 1.065 6.523 0.710 



Crop 68.560, " * 3G.680 4.384 25.930 1.5 59 



52.02 grs. by cultivation +28.73 +3.319 +19.11 +0.849 



From this experiment it appears that 16.549 grs. of seed found in 

 the air, and obtained from the water with which they had b*^en sup- 

 plied during their growth, 52.02 grs of elementary matter io the 

 course of riinety-nine days' growth, during the warmest months of 

 the year ; and that the quantity of azote originally contained in th§ 

 »eed was more than doubled in the produce arrived at inatprity. 



* Peas 45.89 



Straw and shells 22.66 



"^otal weight of the crop 



