5.63 2 8
Phosphoric acid 43.98 19 8
Sulphuric acid .21 0 1 1/6th.
Lime 1.80 0 12 8/10ths.
Magnesia 11.69 5 3 2/10ths.
Peroxide of iron .29 0 2
Potash 34.51 15 5 6/10ths.
Soda 1.87 0 13 3/10ths.
----- --- ----------
Total 99.98 44 6 l/10ths.

_Analysis of Straw with its proportion of Chaff._
Per centage. Removed per acre.
lbs. ozs.
Silica 69.36 111 1 7/10ths.
Phosphoric acid 5.24 8 6 7/10ths.
Sulphuric acid 4.45 7 2 2/10ths.
Lime 6.96 11 2 2/20ths.
Magnesia 1.45 2 5
Peroxide of iron .29 1 2
Potash 11.79 18 14
Soda none none.
Chloride of sodium " "
----- --- -----------
Total 99.54 160 1 l/10ths.

If we subtract the 111 pounds of silica from 160 pounds of minerals
in the straw and chaff, the difference between what are left and
those in wheat, is not great. As the stems and leaves of wheat
plants grow before their seeds, if all the phosphoric acid, potash,
and lime available in the soil is consumed before the organization
of the seeds begin, from what source is nature to draw her supply of
these ingredients to form a good crop of wheat? If the farmer could
reverse the order of nature, and grow a good supply of seeds first,
and make straw afterwards, then many a one would harvest more wheat
and less straw. But the cultivator must grow the stems, roots, and
leaves of wheat, corn, and cotton, before nature will begin to form
the seeds of these several plants: and every one should know that
the atoms in the soil, which are consumed in organizing the bodies
of cultivated plants, are, in the main, identical in kind with those
required to make their seeds. The proportions, however, differ very
considerably.