176 



Analyses of Ashes of Plants. 



all cases twice, in many three times as much as that of the bulbs ; it 

 varies between the limits of 1-19 (Spec. 84) and2'64 (Spec. 79) per 

 cent. The mean of all the specimens will be found to be 184 in 

 100 parts of wet leaf ; the column which represents the ash on the 

 dry tops contains numbers quite as different as those which are 

 found for the tops in a wet state — that is, the ash is by no means 

 the same in quantity in equal weights of the dry tops. 



The following table gives at a view the mean proportion in 

 water and ash in turnips and turnip-tops : — 



Table 3. — Water, Ash, &c., in Turnips. 





Water. 



Ash. 



Ash, Dry. 



Highest. 



Lowest. IMean. 



Highest. 



Lowest. 



Mean. 



Highest. 



Lowest. Mean. 



Bulb . 

 Top . 



92.7 

 90- 



SG-O 90-0 

 73-0 85-5 



1- 13 



2- 64 



•48 



1-19 



•73 

 1-84 



10-90 

 18-00 



4-00 1 7-30 

 8-00 jl2-98 



The mean numbers are those of the 30 specimens in the former 

 table ; they need not necessarily be the mean of the high and low ; 

 but a little examination will show that they very nearly approach 

 these quantities — in other words, the per centage of water and 

 ash varies with tolerable uniformity both above and below the 

 averages above given. 



We have been unable to trace any connection between the 

 amount of ash and the variety of the plant. The turnips^ the 

 swedes, and the intermediate variety, the hybrids, are in no way 

 distinguished from each other by the quantity of mineral matter in 

 them. The soil and manure have, no doubt, more to do with this : 

 and yet in Spec. 82 and 83, one of them grown on chalk, the other 

 on clay with such very different manures, we observe a very great 

 similarity in the quantity of ash both in the bulb and the top, and 

 in other cases a difference is seen in the mineral contents of two 

 turnips of different varieties growing in the same field and same 

 manure. But the evidence, on the whole, is in favour of the con- 

 clusion that the mineral matter is regulated more by the soil and 

 manure than by the variety, although the distinctive character of 

 the root is never set aside. We were prepared to find much 

 greater diversity in the ash of the root crops than in that of the 

 cereals (at all events of the grain) ; it may be presumed that in the 

 perfect maturation of a seed, everything which is not required by 

 the organization is ejected into the straw ; the straw, therefore, 

 would be less uniform than the grain, which latter would not be 

 expected at any time to exhibit very striking mineral peculiarities. 

 In the turnip, as in every succulent vegetable, it must be believed 

 that there are two portions of mineral matter^ one of which has 



