How wonderful that the solid part of a tree should once have been floating about in the air!
Do you think the leaves of a plant to be the same as the stem?
Yes, I do; for when they are thrown in a fire, they smoke, blaze, and leave an ash like the wood does.
Just so. You know the smoke to be carbon passing into the air; but we must examine the ash a little more carefully. If you take some ash from the fireplace, and put it into hot water, the solid part will of course fall to the bottom.
Will no part mix with the water?
There will be something; for if we pour off the water, and allow it to evaporate in a dish, there will be found to be a sediment left, and that is potash or pearl ash.
I have heard of people in the bush doing that when they could not get soap, for they said that the potash got the dirt out of clothes.
It is a great pity that we in these colonies burn away so much wood in waste when clearing land, Willie, without thinking of making potash out of the ashes, for it fetches a good price.
Then there is potash in the plant. Has any thing else been found in the ash beside that and carbon?
Yes, my lad. Sulphur or brimstone, lime, soda, flint, ammonia, phosphorus, magnesia, and iron, are contained in trees.