THE ASH OF PLANTS. 141 
tions of ash in dry matter, yielded both by the entire 
plant and by the several organs or parts. 
The following results, obtained by Norton, on the oat, 
illustrate this variation. Norton examined the various 
parts of the oat-plant at intervals of one week throughout 
its entire period of growth. He found: 
Leaves. Stem. -Knots. Chaff. Grain unhusked. 
June 4........ 10.8 10.4 Ae és as 
June ll,..... 10.7 9.8 ae ee i 
June 18........ 9.0 9.3 6 “4 oe 
JUNE 2enc cases 10.9 0.1 ww ¥ “x 
duly 2........ 11.3 7.8 oe Js 49 
July 9........12.2 U8 ae sis 43 
July 16........ 12.6 79 ie 6.0 3.3 
July 23........16.4 29 10.0 9.1 3.6 
July 30........ 16.4 U4 9.6 12.2 42 
Aug. 6....... 16.0 7.6 10.4 13.7 4.3 
Aug. 18........ 20.4 6.6 10.4 18.6 4.0 
Aug. 20........ 21.1 6.6 11.7 21.0 3.6 
Aug. 27........ 22.1 U7 11.2 22.4 3.5 
Sept. 3........ 20.9 8.3 10.7 27.4 3.6 
Here, in case of the leaves and chaff, we observe a con- 
stant increase of ash, while in the stem there is a constant 
decrease, except at the time of ripening, when these rela- 
tions are reversed.. The knots of the stem preserved a 
pretty uniform ash-content. The unhusked grain at first 
suffered a diminution, then an increase, and lastly a de- 
crease again. 
Arendt found in the oat-plant fluctuations, not in all re- 
spects accordant with those observed by Norton. Arendt 
obtained the following proportions of ash: 
Blower 2middle Upper Lower Upper Ears. Entire 
joints of jointsof jointof leaves. leaves. plant, 
stem, stem. stem. 
June 18,...4.4 ee oe 9.7 4.7 ae 8.0 
June 30....2.5 2.9 3.5 9.4 7.0 3.8 5.2 
July 10....3.5 4.7 5.2 10.2 6.9 3.6 5.4 
July 21....4.4 5.0 5.5 10.1 9.7 2.8 5.2 
July 31....6.4 5.3 6.4 10.1 10.5 2.6 5.1 
Here we see that the ash increased in the stem and in 
each of its several parts after the first examination. The 
