6 The Bulletin. 



well distributed in the soil where plant roots can get at them. They 

 are, especially the nitrate of soda, ready to be taken up by plants, and 

 are therefore quick-acting forms of ammonia. It is mainly the ammo- 

 nia from nitrate of soda and sulphate of ammonia that will be desig- 

 nated under the heading of water-soluble ammonia. 



Organic Ammonia. — The ammonia in cotton-seed meal, dried blood, 

 tankage, fish scrap, and so on, is included under this heading. These 

 materials are insoluble in water, and before they can feed plants they 

 must decay and have their ammonia changed, by the aid of the bacteria 

 of the soil, to nitrates, similar to nitrate of soda. 



They are valuable then as plant food in proportion to their content 

 of ammonia, and the rapidity with which they decay in the soil, or 

 rather the rate of decay, will determine the quickness of their action as 

 fertilizers. With short season, quick-growing crops, quickness of action 

 is an important consideration, but with crops occupying the land during 

 the greater portion, or all, of the growing season, it is better to have a 

 fertilizer that will become available more slowly, so as to feed the plant 

 till maturity. Cotton-seed meal and dried blood decompose fairly rapidly, 

 but will last the greater portion, if not all, of the growing season in this 

 State. While cotton seed and tankage will last longer than meal and 

 blood, none of these act so quickly, or give out so soon, as nitrate of soda 

 and sulphate of ammonia. 



Total Ammonia is made up of the water-soluble and organic; it is 

 the sum of these two. 



The farmer should suit, as far as possible, the kind of ammonia to 

 his different crops, and a study of the forms of ammonia as given in 

 the tables of analyses will help him to do this. 



FORM OF POTASH IN TOBACCO FERTILIZERS. 



Tobacco growers are becoming yearly more disposed to know the form 

 of potash, whether from kainit, muriate or sulphate, which enters into 

 their tobacco fertilizers. Considerable work of this kind has been done 

 for individuals, and we now determine the form of potash in all tobacco 

 brands, for the benefit of tobacco growers. 



The term potash from muriate, as reported in the analyses, does not: 

 mean, necessarily, that the potash was supplied by muriate of potash. 

 Sulphate or some other potash salt may have been used, but in all fer- 

 tilizers where the term potash from muriate is used, there is enough 

 chlorine present to combine with all the potash, though it may have 

 come from salt in tankage, kainit, or karnalite. As the objection to the 

 use of muriate of potash in tobacco fertilizers arises from the chlorine 

 present, it does not matter whether this substance is present in common 

 salt or potash-furnishing materials. 



The use of sulphate of potash where there is chlorine present in the 

 other ingredients of the fertilizer will not prevent the injurious effect 

 of the chlorine. The term potash from muriate in our analyses, there- 

 fore, means that there is sufficient chlorine present in the fertilizer from 

 all sources to combine with the potash to the extent indicated by the 

 analyses. 



