THE ASH OF PLANTS. 143 
and under the same conditions, Herapath, (Qu. Jour. 
Chem. Soc., IT, p. 20,) found the percentages of ash in 
dry matter of the tuber as follows: 
Variety of potato. White Prince's Axbridge Magpie. Forty- 
Apple. Beauty. Kidney. Sold. 
Ash per cent........... 4.8 3.6 43 3.4 3.9 
7. It has been observed further that different individuals 
of the same variety of plant, growing side by side, on the 
same soil, (in the same field at least,) contain different pro- 
portions of ash-ingredients, according as they are, on the 
one hand, healthy, vigorous plants, or, on the other, weak 
and stunted. Pierre, (Jahresbericht iber Agriculturchemie, 
TT, py. 125,) found in entire colza plants of various degrees 
of vigor the following percentages of ash in dry matter: 
In extremely feeble plants, 1856......... 8.0 per cent ob aah 
In very feeble plants, 1857............68 9.0 “¢ 
In feeble plants, 1857...-.........2e000s 114 “ se 
In strong plants, 1857........2.....0086 ILo0) “ i 
In extremely strong plants, 1857........ 43 sé 
Pierre attributes the larger per cent of ash in the strong 
plants to the relatively greater quantity of leaves devel- 
oped on them. . 
Similar results were obtained by Arendt in case of oats. 
Wunder, ( Versuchs-St., TV, p. 115,) found that the leaves 
of small turnip planta, yielded somewhat more ash, per 
cent, than large plants. The former gave 19.7, the latter 
16.8 per cent. 
8. The reader is prepared from several of the foregoing 
statements to understand partially the cause of the varia- 
tions in the proportion of ash in different specimens of the 
same kind of plant. 
The fact that different parts of the plant are unlike in 
their composition, the upper and outer portions being, in 
general, the richer in ash-ingredients, may explain in some 
degree why different observers have obtained different 
analytical results. 
It is well known that a variety of circumstances in- 
