48 EVOLUTION AND GKOWTH. - 



FIFTH EXPERIMENT. 



VEGETATION OF OATS. 



I always failed in my attempts to transfer wheat plants from the 

 ordinary soil in which the grain had been sown to barren sand ; they 

 never survived the transplantation. It was not different with oat 

 plants ; they also always died. It was at first supposed that the 

 delicate radicles of these plants had been injured in the process of 

 taking them up and freeing their roots from adhering vegetable soil ; 

 but I soon saw that this could not have been the case, for the same 

 plants, treated precisely in the same manner, took very promptly 

 when transplanted to garden mould, and even when they were put 

 with their roots in pure water. It was with water, therefore, that 

 the following experiment was conducted. 



June 20th, several oat plants were taken up from a field, and their 

 roots were washed and cleansed. 



Three plants preserved for analysis, weighed 159.011 grs. 



Four plants, the subjects of experiment, weighed 221.844 grs. 

 troy. They were protected from dust, their roots dipping into a 

 vessel containing distilled water, which was regularly kept up to 

 the same level. By the middle of July the stalks of these plants 

 had grown to twice their former length ; and at this time it would 

 have been difficult to have distinguished them from those growing 

 in the open field. By the end of July the clusters had formed ; and 

 on the 10th of August the grain seemed ripe. It was, therefore, 

 taken np and dried in the stove, and reduced to powder to complete 

 the desiccation at 110° cent. (230° Fahr.) 



ANALYSIS OF THE CROP. 



Transplanted. Gathtred from the Held. 



Carbon 53.0 48.0 



Hydrogen 6.8 6.2 



Oxygen 36.4 44.0 



Azote 3.8 1.7 



100.0 100.0 



SUMMARY. 



Carbon. Ujrdre^a. Oxjrgta. Axott. 

 The oats when transplanted 



contained 12.967 1.636 8.770 0.910 



AAer 48 days of growth in dis- 

 tilled water they contained • • 23.157 2.979 21.180 0.818 



+10.190 +1.343 +12.410 —0.099 



The analysis, therefore, indicates a trifling loss of azote. 



In recapitulating the conclusions obtained from these experiments, 

 we find : 



First. That trefoil and peas grown in a soil absolutely without 

 manure, acquired a very appreciable quantity of azote, in addition to 

 a large quantity of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. 



