509 
of  the  Ashes  of  Plants. 
Composition  in  100  parts  of  the  Ash  of  different  parts  of  the  “Forty-day” 
Maize : — 
Stalks  and 
Pith  of  the 
Leaves. 
“ Cobb.” 
Silica  ..... 
1-55 
27-98 
26-35 
Phosphoric  Acid  . 
53-69 
8-09 
4-37 
Sulphuric  Acid  . . 
traces. 
5-16 
1-92 
Carbonic  Acid  . 
none. 
2-87 
7-46 
Lime  ..... 
•57 
10-53 
3-43 
Magnesia  .... 
13-60 
5-52 
4-06 
Peroxide  of  Iron 
•47 
2*28 
•22 
Potash 
28-37 
35*26 
42-26 
Soda 
1-74 
none. 
none. 
Chloride  of  Potassium  . 
none. 
. . 
7-61 
Chloride  of  Sodium  . 
traces. 
2-29 
2-28 
99-99 
99-98 
99-99 
The  first  point  to  be  noticed  in  the  above  table  is  that  the  phos- 
phoric acid  of  the  ash  of  the  grain  considerably  exceeds  that  which 
is  found  in  the  ash  of  wheat,  whilst  the  quantity  of  potash  and  of 
magnesia  are  very  much  the  same  in  either  case.  The  mean  pro- 
portion of  phosphoric  acid  in  wheat  ash  is  45  per  cent. — one  spe- 
cimen, however,  having  reached  49  per  cent.  On  the  other  hand, 
Keene’s  maize  only  contains  1 • 37  per  cent,  of  its  weight  of  ash, 
whilst  the  mean  mineral  matter  in  the  grain  of  wheat  has  been 
found  to  be  1 • 67  per  cent.  Whether  the  examination  of  further 
specimens  of  maize  would  establish  a higher  proportion  of  ash 
for  its  grain,  we  cannot  say  ; it  is  quite  possible  that  such  might 
be  the  case,  since  in  the  analyses  of  wheat  (given  in  the  first  re- 
port) we  have  recorded  one  instance  in  which  100  parts  of  wheat 
furnished  only  1 '36  parts  of  ash,  although  the  mean  proportion  is 
1 • 67  per  cent.  Mr.  Keene  has  supplied  us  with  some  obser- 
vations upon  the  different  parts  of  the  crop,  which,  taken  in  con- 
junction with  the  foregoing  analyses,  will  make  the  relatively  ex- 
hausting or  non-exhausting  character  of  maize  a matter  of  easy 
calculation.  On  reference  to  his  agricultural  notes  he  finds  that 
the  aggregate  crop  is  about  from  2t  to  3 tons  per  acre,  in  the 
following  proportions : — 
_ , Ills. 
Dry  leaves 937  1 
Envelope  of  the  seed-head 312  l 2199 
Stalks  with  the  roots 1250  ) 
Pith  of  the  seed-head 025 
Six  quarters  of  grain,  at  00  lbs.  per  bushel  . . 2S80 
Total  . . . 6004  lbs. 
The  weights  were  taken  after  three  months’  natural  desiccation.  It 
was  precisely  in  this  condition  that  the  specimens  were  analyzed 
VOL.  xi.  2 L 
