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°. 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°._
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 4·15 Black Mustard 4·31 Poppy 6·56 Niger seed (_Guizotia oleifera_) 7·00 Earth nut 3·88 Sweet Almond 4·90 Horse-chesnut 2·81 Grape 2·76 Clover 6·19 Turnip 3·98 Carrot 10·03 Sainfoin 5·27 Italian Ryegrass 6·91 Mangold-Wurzel 6·58
Wheat 4·54 Barley 4·99 Oat 7·24 Winter Rye 5·15 Summer Rye 5·78 Millet 8·32 Maize 3·60 Pea 4·81 Bean 6·59 Tares 6·00 Lentil 5·38 Buckwheat 4·50 Hops 4·42 Flax straw 4·25 Hemp 4·14 Gold of Pleasure 6·05 Rape 4·41 Potato 14·90 Jerusalem Artichoke 4·40
Potato 17·70 Spurry 10·06 Red Clover 8·79 White Clover 8·72 Yellow Clover 8·56 Crimson Clover (_T. incarnatum_) 10·81 Cow Grass (_T. medium_) 11·31 Sainfoin 6·51 Ryegrass 6·42 Meadow Foxtail (_Alopecurus pratensis_) 7·81 Sweet-scented Vernal Grass (_Anthoxanthum odoratum_) 6·32 Downy Oat Grass (_Avena pubescens_) 5·22 Bromus erectus 5·21 Bromus mollis 5·82 Cynosurus cristatus 6·38 Dactylis glomeratus 5·31 Festuca duriuscula 5·42 Holcus lanatus 6·37 Hordeum pratense 5·67 Lolium perenne 7·54 Poa annua 2·83 Poa pratensis 5·94 Poa trivialis 8·33 Phleum pratense 5·29 Plantago lanceolata 8·68 Poterium Sanguisorba 7·97 Yarrow 13·45 Rape Kale 8·00 Cow Cabbage 10·00 Asparagus 6·40 Parsley 1·10 Furze 3·11 Chamomile (_Anthemis arvensis_) 9·66 Wild Chamomile (_Matricaria Chamomilla_) 9·10 Corn Cockle (_Agrostemma Githago_) 13·20 Corn Blue Bottle (_Centaurea Cyanus_) 7·32 Foxglove 10·89 Hemlock (_Conium maculatum_) 12·80 Sweet Rush (_Acorus Calamus_) 6·90 Common Reed (_Arundo Phragmites_) 1·44 Celandine (_Chelidonium majus_) 6·85 Equisetum fluviatile 23·60 Equisetum hyemale 11·80 " arvense 13·80 " linosum 15·50 Fucus nodosus 19·03 Fucus vesiculosus 27·63 Laminaria digitata 39·68