germinate, and even grow, to a certain extent, in absence of one or more
of the constituents of its ash, it remains sickly and stunted, and is
incapable of producing either flower or seed.

Of late years the analysis of the ash of different plants has formed the
subject of a large number of laborious investigations, by which our
knowledge of this subject has been greatly extended. From these it
appears that the quantity of ash contained in each plant or part of a
plant is tolerably uniform, differing only within comparatively narrow
limits, and that there is a special proportion belonging to each
individual organ of the plant. This fact may be best rendered obvious by
the subjoined table, showing the quantity of ash contained in a hundred
parts of the different substances dried at 212 deg.. Most of these numbers
are the mean of several experiments:--

_Table showing the quantity of inorganic matters in 100 parts of
different plants dried at 212 deg.._

SEEDS.

Wheat 1.97
Barley 2.48
Oats (with husk) 3.80
Oats (without husk) 2.06
Rye 2.00
Millet 3.60
Rice 0.37
Maize 1.20
Peas 2.88
Beans 3.22
Kidney Beans 4.09
Lentils 2.51
Tares 2.60
Buckwheat 2.13
Linseed 4.40
Hemp seed 5.60
Rape seed 4.35
Indian Rape-seed[A] 4.06
Sunflower 3.26
Cotton seed 5.93
Guinea Corn 1.99
Gold of Pleasure 4.10
White Mustard