42 
Colorado Experiment Station 
MOISTURE, SOLUBLE AND INSOLUBLE ASH IN AIR-DRIED PLANTS. 
Soluble 
Insoluble 
Total 
Crop 
Fertilizer 
Moisture 
Ash 
Ash 
Ash 
1913 > 
Variety 
Lbs. per Acre 
Percent 
Percent 
Percent 
Percent 
8 July 
Defiance 
120 nitrogen 
8.493 
6.220 
2.455 
8.675 
9 July 
Red Fife 
60 phosphorus 
4.206 
2.678 
6.889 
9 July 
Red Fife 
None 
5.566 
4.007 
2.193 
6.200 
9 July 
Kubanka 
200 potassium 
6.759 
4.436 
3.514 
7.950 
10 July 
Defiance 
40 nitrogen 
8.652 
5.165 
2.612 
7.778 
10 July 
Red Fife 
100 potassium 
7.428 
3.340 
3.651 
6.991 
10 July 
Kubanka 
40 nitrogen 
8.379 
3.758 
2.473 
6.213 
10 July 
Kubanka 
None 
7.097 
4.485 
2.973 
7.458 
The table shows that from 50.0 to 75.0 per cent of the total ash 
is soluble in water. This amount is not only very high but also 
includes a large amount of silica which separates out on evapora¬ 
tion to dryness. For these reasons it seemed of some interest to 
determine the composition of this water-soluble ash; and at the 
same time to determine how its quantity and composition was 
affected by the addition of nitrogen compared with the water-soluble 
ash of plants grown without any fertilizer. 
In the preparation of the preceding ashes, the ground plants 
were first charred and then extracted. The charring of the mass of 
organic matter containing so large an amount of silica and alkalis 
might have given rise to soluble silicates and for this reason alone 
the percentages of soluble and insoluble ash are not conclusive in 
regard to their solubility in the plant before ignition. We assume 
it as self evident that the mineral constituents, even the silica, 
are taken up as solutions and that they must continue to exist in the 
plant in this condition till they are either appropriated by the plant, 
i. e., used in the formation of its various constituents, or, as in the 
case of the silica, are deposited in the cell walls in an insoluble 
form. But how long they continue to remain unchanged in regard 
to their solubility is not known. In order to determine whether 
the soluble ash obtained was formed by the ignition or existed in 
the plant as water-soluble salts, I extracted the ground plants with 
warm water. The water was not in contact with the plants for 
more than sixteen hours in all, so that fermentative changes prob¬ 
ably did not bring the ash constituents into solution. The aqueous 
extract was evaporated to dryness, the dried mass ignited and 
treated as usual. The extracted plants were dried and the ash 
in them was determined, but not analyzed further than this, that it 
was treated with hydric chlorid and the amount of soluble and in¬ 
soluble ash determined. 
Two samples were treated in this manner. One was grown 
with the application of nitrates and the other without the applica¬ 
tion of any fertilizer, but both were of the same variety and taken 
on the same date, 8th July, 1913. 
