Ash and Mineral Cation Content of Vegetables

Data on the ash and mineral cation content of 46 samples of snapbeans and 67 samples of tomatoes are shown, state by state, in Table 2 below. Summary values for all five vegetables are given in Table 3. After consideration of the state-average and summary values, in conjunction with the individual values for the 204 samples of all five vegetables, of which only the extremes are shown at the bottom of the table, the following conclusions were drawn:

Ash, Ca, and cation-equivalent values tend to increase from south to north and from east to west.
K values tend to increase from east to west.
Mg values tend to increase from north to south and from east to west.
Na values tend to decrease from east to west.⁷

Table 2
State	Snapbeans					Total cations	Tomatoes					Total cations
State	Ash	Ca	Mg	K	Na	Total cations	Ash	Ca	Mg	K	Na	Total cations
Georgia	6.50	14.5	38.3	51.7	1.3	105.8	7.78	6.0	32.9	85.7	3.0	127.6
S. Carolina	6.26	23.0	32.9	44.8	2.2	102.9	8.20	7.5	30.4	85.7	3.5	127.1
Virginia	5.98	17.0	25.5	50.9	1.7	95.1	8.44	7.0	33.7	97.2	2.2	140.1
Maryland	6.49	20.5	36.2	56.0	0.8	113.5	7.00	14.0	14.8	88.2	0.4	117.4
New Jersey	6.62	24.0	43.6	48.8	3.9	120.3	8.14	13.0	21.4	83.1	2.2	119.7
New York	6.34	25.5	39.5	64.5	3.0	132.5	8.95	14.5	17.3	107.4	1.3	140.5
Ohio	8.53	30.5	45.2	71.1	1.7	149.0	9.10	13.5	26.3	101.8	1.3	142.6
Indiana	6.59	30.5	46.0	67.5	1.3	145.3	9.18	15.0	28.0	101.8	2.2	147.0
Illinois	7.73	26.5	43.6	70.6	1.3	142.0	8.59	13.8	28.0	96.0	1.3	139.1
Colorado	7.68	29.0	48.5	56.5	0.4	134.4	11.54	15.0	33.7	111.0	0.8	160.5
	Snapbeans						Tomatoes
Highest	10.45	40.5	60.0	99.7	8.6		14.20	23.0	59.2	148.3	6.5
Lowest	4.04	15.5	14.8	29.1	0.0		6.07	4.5	4.5	58.8	0.0
	Cabbage						Spinach
Highest	10.38	66.0	43.6	148.3	20.4		28.56	96.0	203.9	257.0	69.5
Lowest	6.12	17.5	15.6	53.7	0.8		12.38	47.5	46.9	84.6	0.8
	Lettuce
Highest	24.28	71.0	49.3	176.5	12.2
Lowest	7.01	16.0	13.1	53.7	0.0
*No two of these extreme values are for the same sample. Thus, for snapbeans the highest Ca, Mg, K, and Na values were found in Colorado, Colorado, Indiana, and New York, respectively.

Table 3
	Snapbeans		Tomatoes		Cabbage		Lettuce		Spinach
	Eastern coastal states	East north central states and Colorado	Eastern coastal states	East north central states and Colorado	Eastern coastal states	East north central states and Colorado	Eastern coastal states	East north central states and Colorado	Eastern coastal states	East north central states and Colorado
Ash	6.38	7.63	8.08	9.59	8.64	7.77	9.63	13.34	23.63	28.61
Ca	0.43	0.58	0.20	0.27	0.59	0.70	0.46	0.87	1.30	1.57
Mg	0.45	0.55	0.30	0.35	0.35	0.32	0.35	0.43	1.30	1.83
K	2.12	2.59	3.56	3.96	2.71	2.64	3.55	4.85	7.38	7.34
Na	0.05	0.02	0.05	0.03	0.20	0.07	0.17	0.04	0.46	0.78
P	0.25	0.25	0.24	0.30	0.28	0.22	0.34	0.32	0.37	0.30
*The percentages dry matter in the fresh vegetables averaged 8, 6, 7, 5, and 10 for snapbeans, tomatoes, cabbage, lettuce, and spinach, respectively.

Next: Characteristics of Soils on Which Vegetables Were Grown