Mar. 15, 1924 
Elemental Composition of the Corn Plant 
855 
Taking the average dry weight of the aerial parts of the plants as 774.4 
gm. and the average dry weight of the roots as 60.5 gm., the average total 
dry weight of a Pride of Saline com plant grown under the conditions of 
this experiment amounted to 834.9 gm. Of this total amount of dry 
matter 28.10 per cent was in the leaves, 24.02 per cent in the stem, 31.26 
per cent in the grain, 9.37 per cent in the cob and 7.25 per cent in the roots. 
Of this total dry weight of the com plant, carbon composed 43.62 per 
cent, oxygen 44.48 per cent, hydrogen 6.24 per cent, nitrogen 1.46 per 
cent, phosphorus 0.204 per cent, potassium 0.919 per cent, calcium 
0.226 per cent, magnesium 0.182 per cent, sulphur 0.169 per cent, 
0.085 P er cent, silicon 1.17 per cent, aluminum 0.107 per cent, chlorin 
0.145 per cent and manganese 0.032 per cent. Approximately 1 per 
cent of the total dry weight was thus to be accounted for by the unde¬ 
termined elements of which, no doubt, sodium represented a considerable 
proportion. Carbon, oxygen and hydrogen made up 94.34 per cent of 
the dry weight of the plant. Since 1.46 per cent of the dry matter of 
the plant was due to nitrogen, the mineral elements in the plant rep¬ 
resented only slightly more than 4 per cent of its entire dry weight. 
The percentage of the various elements that composed the plants in 
these analyses corresponded closely to the figures given by other investi¬ 
gators. Homberger (3) worked with Badischer Early com and made 
chemical analyses of the plants at seven-day periods throughout the 
growing season. His analyses show that at the time of maturity calcium, 
potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, sulphur, silicon, iron and nitrogen 
made up, respectively, 0.51, 1.19, 0.27, 0.42, 0.08, 0.40, 0.05, and r.54 per 
cent of the dry weight of the plants. The figures given by Vivian ( 12 , 
p. 9-11) show that carbon, oxygen and hydrogen made up 92.7 per cent 
of the dry weight of the com plant which was ready to be cut for the 
shock. His results for the percentages of the various mineral elements 
were practically the same as those reported by Homberger (3). Jones 
and Huston (5) found that potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen made up, 
respectively, 0.828, 0.193, and 1.17 per cent of the dry weight of the 
stems, leaves and ears of Riley's Favorite variety of com when the 
grain was hard and the plant ready to be cut. 
The percentage distribution of the 14 elements in the different parts 
of the plant is shown in Table VI. 
Table VI. — Percentage distribution of the different elements in the leaves, stem, groin, 
cob, and roots of Pride of Saline corn grown at Manhattan, Kans., in 1920 
Elements. 
Organ. 
Car¬ 
bon. 
Oxy¬ 
gen. 
Hy¬ 
dro¬ 
gen. 
Ni¬ 
tro¬ 
gen. 
Phos¬ 
phor¬ 
us. 
Po¬ 
tas¬ 
sium. 
Cal¬ 
ci¬ 
um. 
Mag¬ 
nesi¬ 
um. 
Sul¬ 
phur. 
Iron. 
Sili¬ 
con. 
Alu¬ 
mi¬ 
num. 
Chlo¬ 
rin. 
Man¬ 
ga¬ 
nese. 
Leaves.. 
Stems. 
Grain. 
Roots. 
Cobs. 
26.58 
* 4*51 
32.04 
7. 02 
9. 82 
27. 70 
23. 70 
31*83 
7.09 
9.66 
* 6*33 
22. 67 
34.82 
9.52 
6.63 
25.01 
13. 78 
46.01 
6.31 
8.85 
28.63 
10.48 
52. *6 
4.24 
4.36 
45* 18 
32.16 
14.19 
3.76 
4.67 
58.16 
18. ox 
3 - 43 
19*49 
.89 
32.32 
21.04 
34.22 
6.75 
563 
39- 75 
22.66 
as* 77 
10. 66 
1.12 
22.96 
14.57 
15.68 
44.11 
2.66 
62. 32 
8.61 
.43 
27.57 
X. 06 
19.46 
2.90 
6.71 
66.33 
4.58 
42.84 
36.93 
7 .07 
543 
7.75 
27.88 
12.64 
35.68 
14.87 
8.93 
Some of the more important facts shown in this table should be 
mentioned in the text. The grain and cob contained approximately 
55 per cent of the total nitrogen, while 25 per cent of this element occurred 
in the leaves. The phosphorus was distributed in the same relative 
