99.94

The quantity of ash in wheat varies from 11/4 to 21/2 per cent.; the
average is about 1.69. The amount of phosphoric acid in any given
quantity of the ash of wheat varies from forty to fifty per cent. of
the same.

Seeds that have a thick cuticle or bran, and little gluten, contain
a smaller per centage of phosphoric acid, and more silica. About
one-third of the ash is potash; in nearly all cases magnesia varies
from nine to fourteen per cent.; lime from one and a half to six per
cent. Peroxide of iron is seldom as abundant as in the ash above
given, and the same is true of soda. Chloride of sodium is common
salt, and exists in a small quantity. Salt is beginning to be much
used as a fertilizer on wheat lands in western New York. It operates
indirectly to increase the crop.

The following may be taken as about the average composition of the
ash of wheat-straw. It is "Specimen No. 40," in the tables of Prof.
Way, and I copy verbatim all that is said upon the subject: [Soil,
sandy; subsoil, stone and clay; geological formation, silurian;
drained; eight years in tillage; crop, after carrots, twenty tons
per acre; tilled December, 1845; heavy crop; mown, August 12th;
carried, August 20th; estimated yield, forty-two bushels per acre;
straw long, grain good, weight sixty-two pounds to the bushel.]
Length of straw, forty-two inches.

_Relation of Grain, Straw and Chaff_.

Actual quantities. Per centage.
Grain 1633 lbs. 45.15
Straw 1732 47.89
Chaff 250 6.96
----
Total 3615 lbs.

Specific gravity of grain 1.396
Weight of grain per acre 2604 lbs.
" " straw " " 2,775 3/10ths.
" " chaff " " 401 1/6th.

_Mineral Matter in an Acre._
Wheat 44 1/2 lbs.
Straw 113
Chaff 47 1/6th.
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Total 204 7/10ths.

_Analysis of the Ash of the Grain_.
Per centage. Removed from an acre.
lbs. ozs.
Silica