59G Report oil the Analysis of the Ashes of Plants. 
contains a larger proportion of nitrogenizecl matter — that is, of 
gluten anil albumen — than the flour itself. 
Now, as we have every reason to believe that the phosphates 
are in some way associated with the gluten, &c., in the grain of 
the cereals, we should expect that not only would the bran prove 
a most nutritious article of food for animals, but that their manure 
Avhilst fed on it would possess the highest fertilising powers.* 
But in addition to the analysis of all the oi-dinary crops, it 
has appeared to us necessary to institute a more extended inquiry 
into the mineral history of one or two of the most important 
groups — to ascertain the variations in quantity and quality of 
mineral matter occurring in different varieties of the same plant, 
and to discover, if possible, the influence of soil, manures, climate, 
and season on the same variety. 
A series of analyses on one description of crop might, we have 
thought, indicate to what extent one substance could, without 
injury to the health of the plant or the amount of the product, be 
substituted for another. 
How far a plant, for instance, might be contented with a 
supply of the cheap alkali soda — in place of its more costly repre- 
sentative — potash. 
We should also hope from such a research to ascertain how far 
the abundant supply of any particular mineral ingredient to a 
plant might cause a greater proportion of it to be taken up and 
retained by the plant; or, in the event of such a result failing to 
occur, whether the circumstance of a plant obtaining ready access 
to a store of such mineral food might not lead to a more abun- 
dant crop, the proportion of its inorganic constituents remaining 
the same. 
On the other hand, we might find that an excess of these sub- 
stances in the soil exercised no kind of influence on the quantity 
or quality of the crop — the success of their application when 
used as top-dressings being solely due to a previous deficiency 
of the soil in particular mineral matters, and in no way connected 
with their subsequent superabundance. 
Then, again, if it be proved from our researches that the 
gluten of wheat is invariably attended with a corresponding 
quantity of phosphates, the question would arise, does the abun- 
dant supply of phosphates to wheat lead to a greater devolopment 
of gluten in it, or, in other words, to the production of a more nu- 
tritive specimen of this grain ? 
One important conclusion would undoubtedly follow from 
the proof of this association of gluten and phosphates in the 
* We believe that an intelligent member of tlie Society has proved this 
supposition to be correct, and adopted the practice above mentioned on 
his lium. 
