52 BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 
Several sets of experiments have been tried. Those of the first set 
(designated Series A) were made in the spring of [872 with ashes from 
a furnace in which they had been exposed to a comparatively high 
temperature. The purpose of this first series of experiments was to 
find a plant well fitted to support at one and the same time the hard- 
ships of living in a glass-house and of growing in a very poor soil. 
A number of clean earthen flower-pots were charged with various 
sands and soils, —among other things, with five hundred grammes of the 
coal-ashes to the pot, — and planted with seeds of oats, barley, beans, 
clover, maize, buckwheat, turnips, etc. Each pot was watered freely 
with rain-water, poured into its saucer, during three months, and the 
condition of the plants was noted from week to week. None of the 
plants really prospered in the coal-ashes. The beans and peas grew 
to a considerable height, it is true, but it was plain that the matter 
of which the new parts of these plants were formed came chiefly from 
the older parts. The nitrogen, at all events, needed for the formation 
of new leaves and stems, was apparently the same that had taken part 
in the formation of the first shoots and leaves derived from the seed. 
This continued growth by instalments, based upon the original stock of 
substance in the seed, was well marked in the case of nasturtiums also. 
Some other plants derived from large seeds, such as lupins and maize, 
shot up to a noticeable height by help of the store of nourishment in 
the seeds planted. But out of seventeen kinds of seeds sown, no sin- 
gle crop came to maturity. 
The general result of the trials was to indicate that buckwheat is a 
plant well suited for this kind of experiment. 
A special experiment, tried simultaneously with the foregoing, gave 
a very striking result, as follows: On March 18, 1872, ten barley- 
corns were put to soak in water for twenty-four hours, and were sub- . 
sequently made to germinate in a porous earthen dish kept covered 
and moist. All the seeds germinated successfully, in spite of weather 
cold enough to occasionally freeze the water in and about the dish 
that contained them. On April 2 the sprouted seeds were planted 
in coal-ashes, in an earthen pot five inches in height and diameter ; 
the pot was placed in the glass-house and gradually brought into 
sunlight, so that on April 9 it was in position beside the other pots. 
During the following week the barley-plants grew tolerably well, but, 
like all the rest, they soon began to languish, and when about four 
