A Study of Colorado Wheat 
43 
WATER-SOLUBLE ASH OF AIR-DRIED WHEAT PLANTS. 
Plants Grown Plants Grown 
with 120 lbs. of Without Any 
Nitrogen per Acre 
Fertilizer ( 
Percent 
Percent 
Ash constituents 
soluble in 
water. 
. 5.363 
4.277 
Ash constituents 
insoluble 
in 
water, but 
soluble in 
hydric 
Insoluble ash 
chlorid . 
. 0.400 
0.327 
(silica) . 
. 2.561 
2.487 
Total 
ash 
. 8.324 
7.091 
ANALYSIS 
OF WATER 
-SOLUBLE ASH. 
Percent 
Percent 
of Air-Dried 
of Air-Dried 
Plant 
Plant 
Silicon . 
. 0.282 
0.377 
Iron . 
. 0.003 
0.003 
Manganese . . 
. 0.002 
0.001 
Calcium . 
. 0.134 
0.090 
Magnesium . . 
. 0.088 
0.066 
Phosphorus . 
. 0.204 
0.225 
Potassium . . 
. 2.396 
1.752 
Sodium . 
. 0.035 
0.028 
No provision was made in the preparation of this ash to pre¬ 
vent loss of phosphorus and yet the water-soluble phosphorus is 
very high. Whether it existed in the plant as phosphoric acid or 
not does not appear, but' it seems probable that the most of it did, 
and yet very considerable quantities of iron, calcium and magnesium 
were present in the aqueous solution, which scarcely would be the 
case under ordinary conditions. We know that the magnesium 
is a part of the chlorophyll molecule and is probably not precipitable 
by phosphoric acid while in this combination. Possibly a like ex¬ 
planation might be offered in the other cases. There is no question 
but that the plants grown with the application of nitrogen have 
larger leaves which are of a much deeper green color and yield an 
extract much more heavily charged with coloring matter than those 
grown without it. Consonant with this we find the magnesium 
and calcium both higher, in the plants grown with the application of 
nitrogen, by at least one-third. 
It is a recognized fact that the application of sodic nitrate to 
wheat results in the production of a soft, weak straw and a ten¬ 
dency for the wheat to lodge. Whether this result is due to sup¬ 
pression of silica in the straw or to some other effect upon the 
growth of the plant, for instance the production of large, thin-walled 
cells, especially in the lower internodes of the plants, with very 
heavy leaves and heads is, to my knowledge, nowhere stated. The 
softness of the straw and its lack of harshness to the touch suggests 
that the silica in the straw is small in amount, whether this be the 
