EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 3S9 



material is applied to tlie soil. Also it is by the study of the simple 

 elementary units that we can best hope to attain a knowledge of the 

 complex structure from which they are derived. In fact it is because 

 of the failure of the earlier investigators to isolate and study individual 

 chemical compounds among the mass of decomposition products, that we 

 know so little of the possibilities of peat as a fertilizer. 



Sources of Nitrogenous Material in Peat. 



Some indications of what compounds may be expected to occur in 

 peat can be gained from a study of its origin. The nitrogenous matter 

 in peat may be derived from three sources, (1) the nitrogenous con- 

 stituents of plants, which form the largest and most important source; 

 (2) the remains of insects and other animals^; and (3) the remains 

 of lower organisms such as moulds and bacteria. Schreiner and Shorey- 

 say in regard to these : *'It is usual to consider the organic matter of 

 both plants and animals as made up of protein, and carbohydrates, 

 but in addition to these elements there are, particularly in plants, a 

 host of other compounds not included in these groups and which are a 

 source of no small part of the soil organic matter. Among these are 

 resin, hydrocarbons and derivatives, waxes, alkaloids, glucosides, tan- 

 nins, phenols and their derivatives, acids, aldehydes, etc." 



Much work has been done upon the nitrogenous constituents of plants 

 and from the results of this work we may reasonably anticipate some 

 of the compounds to be looked for in peat. Proteins are usually given 

 the most prominent place among such organic nitrogenous bodies, 

 partly, perhaps, because of the great scientific interest which at present 

 centers around these bodies, and partly because the decomposition 

 products of protein are, on this account, better known and more easily 

 isolated than non-protein nitrogenous compounds. The compounds 

 which we would look for from this source would be the mono and 

 di-amino acids, prolin, and possibly polypeptides.^ As will be shoiivTi 

 later, most of the known amino acids have actually been isolated from 

 the deconiix)sition products of soil humus. Schreiner and Shorey* have 

 demonstrated theoretically the possibility of the formation of pyridine 

 compounds from the decomposition of protein and have isolated such 

 a compound from soil. Such compounds would also be expected from 

 the decomposition of plant alkaloids. Alkaloids themselves might also 

 be present. Among the other non-protein nitrogenous compounds which 

 might be expected are cholin, betain and other decomposition products 

 of lecithins and certain nitrogenous glucosides. 



From animal remains would come the usual protein decomposition 

 products. As has been shown by several workers, chitin may form one 

 of the sources of nitrogen in peat and humus. From the work of Led- 

 derhose^ glucosamine is a decomposition product of this material. 

 From moulds and bacteria protein decomposition products would also 

 be formed. 



Reasoning on this basis, we should expect a large part of the nitrogen 



ij. J. Fruh, "Uber Torf und Dopperlite," Zurich, 1883. (Abs. in Jahresber. Fort. Ag. Chem., 1884, 

 p. 17.) s^ 



V. Ollech. "Uljer den Humus und seine Beziehungen zur Bodenfruchbarkeit," Berlin, 1890. (Abs. 

 in Jahresber. Fort. Ag. Chem.) 



2BuI. 53, Bureau of Soils, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, p. 9. 



sSee Schulze, Vers. Stat. 73, 56 (1910). 



<Bul. 53. p. 32, Bureau of Soils, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, (1909). 



6Zeit. Physiol, Chem. 2, 213. 



