VARIATIONS IN MINERAL COMPOSITION OF SAP, 
LEAVES, AND STEMS OF THE WILD-GRAPE VINE 
AND SUGAR-MAPLE TREE 
By O. M. Shedd, 1 
Chemist, Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station 
INTRODUCTION 
In a previous publication Kastle and the writer (9) 2 have shown the 
relation existing between the mineral components of the sap of the wild- 
grape vine (Vitis cor difolia) and those contained in the young leaves and 
stems at a certain period in its growth during the same year. At that 
time these writers stated that they did not know whether these relations 
would hold true throughout the growing season, and they purposed to 
continue the investigation so as to include the sap and other materials 
from different portions of this vine and other plants. 
Since our former publication, the writer has found in the literature at 
hand that considerable work has been done by Chandler (1), Harris and 
Gortner (8), Dixon and others (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) on the physiochemical 
properties of certain saps or plant juices, but, so far as we have been able 
to find, no work has been done on the mineral composition of the sap or 
on the changes occurring therein which might have any bearing on the 
above-mentioned investigation. 
EXPERIMENTS WITH WIED-GRAPE VINE 
With this idea in view, the writer has during the last three years 
(1912-1914) collected samples of the sap from the vine employed in the 
former work, in order to determine (1) whether the mineral composition 
of this sap varies at the same time in different parts of the vine, (2) 
whether it varies during a single season at a certain point, and (3) whether 
it varies during different years. The analyses are of interest, inasmuch 
as they show large differences in the composition of the sap, depending 
on the time and place of collection. The results are given in Tables I to 
XI and are expressed in percentage by weight, except where otherwise 
stated. The mineral components of the original sample have been cal¬ 
culated from the amounts found in the ash, except the chlorin, which 
was determined in the fresh sap. The sulphur-trioxid content of the 
original substance is probably low, since more or less sulphur is lost in 
ashing organic materials. 
1 The author desires to express his gratitude to Dr. J. H. Kastle, Director of the Kentucky Experiment 
Station, for his helpful advice during the progress of this investigation. 
2 Reference is made by number to “ literature cited,” p. 541-542. 
(S 2 9> 
Journal of Agriculture Research, 
Dept, of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 
bh 
Vol. V, No. 12 
Dec. so, 1915 
Ky. 
