NJDEP - NJGS - First Annual Report of the Geological Survey of the ...

86advisable to enter upon any extende'd discussion of the sub-. jeet at present. Two reliable analyses," however, of the groin• and straw of wheat, made by Weber, in the laboratory, andaccording to the method, of H. Rosc, "_will be quoted here, in 0order to furnish an idea of the minerM ingredients whosepresence in the soil is necessary to th'e_nutrition of that grain.• In Ih0 grain. Ill the straw,Percentage of ashes found .1.28 3.82Constituents of ash.Potash, 23.1'8. 0.68Soda, : 3.09 "'Lime, . . 3.28 _' 6.93" Magnesia, . , 11.75 1.69Sesquioxide of iron, 1.11 0.99Sulphurie acid, . 0.74Amorphous silica, 1.18 67.90Phosphoric acid, . . 46:36 5.05Chloride of pot._sium, 15.13Chloride ot" sodium, 1().00 0.89100.00 t00.00One of the many prominent points of interest here presented,i_ the large ctuantity of silica foand in the wheat straw,(sixty-eight per cent.), insomuch the.t;, the whole content ofash in the straw being 3.82 per .cent., a simple calculationshows that a ton of such straw would contain more than fiftypounds of silica, and would require more than six tons of themarl I. A. to satisfy it with this element in its nutrition. So_liat upon a s'oil already deficient in amorphous silica, suchmarl, unless applied in a very large quantity_ would not furnishit in the requisite proportion. Weber's analyses showalso other ingredients in the wheat ashes, which d,o not existin the marl, showing very clearly that a farmer who should at-_.empt to restore exhausted wheatlands by the use of such aumrl alone, would stand several chances Of disappointment _* Liebig & Kopp's Jahi'esberi_ht_ fiil. 18491 p. 656. 'NEW JERSEY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY