In the dry ashing of plant material for chemical analysis, the hot digestion on the steam bath of the ashed sample was replaced by the quantitative addition of dilute HCl and stirring very briefly to dissolve the ash. By waiting a few minutes for the particles to settle, there was no need to filter the solution prior to dilution with an automatic diluter and the determination of K, Na, Ca and Mg by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The new procedure permits the handling of large batches of samples conveniently, eliminates the use of pipettes and volumetric flasks and decreases the risk of inadvertent contamination by sodium and therefore enhances accuracy. Precision was at least as good as with the standard procedure and the method is expected to be more suitable for use in conjunction with automated analytical techniques.