FEETILIZERS. 347 



In the experiments on methods of applying fertilizers it was found that "better 

 results followed the use of 250 lbs. of a complete fertilizer for corn when applied in 

 the row than when applied broadcast and harrowed into the soil. Slightly better 

 yields came from the broadcast application of 500 to 1,000 11 )s. to the acre than from 

 the same amounts applied in the row, but the results should not be considered con- 

 clusive. Cotton-seed meal was found to retard seriously the germination of seed 

 with which it was applied in direct contact, and it should not therefore be drilled 

 with wheat. When applied in the row for crops planted in rows it should be mixed 

 with the soil before the seed is dropped. Cotton-seed meal applied broadcast in the 

 fall for wheat gave favorable returns as compared with nitrate of soda furnishing the 

 same amount of nitrogen." 



Notes on the management of barnyard manure, H. Buhlert {Fiildlng's 

 Landw. Ztg., 52 {1903), Nos. 17, j)p. 625-630; IS, pp. 647-654).—^^ review of investi- 

 gations on this subject. 



Derivation of animal ammoniates — dried blood, tankage, hoof meal, bone, 

 and other products, Iv M. Paget {Amer. Pert., 19 {1903), No. 3, pp. 5-23, fiys. 12).— 

 The method of manufacture of these products used in packing houses is described. 

 Articles previously noted (E. S. R., 14, p. 953) are incorporated in this article. 



A ne-w source of nitrogen for agriculture, L. Grandeau {Jour. Agr. Prat., n. 

 ser., 6 {1.903), No. 32, pp. 173-176). — This is a summary and discussion of the experi- 

 ments of Wagner and Gerlach (E. S. R., 15, p. 25) on the fertilizing value of the 

 so-called lime nitrogen (calcium cyanamid). 



Rendering atmospheric nitrogen available for agriculture and industry, 

 A. Frank {Ztschr. Angew. Chem., 16 {1903), No. 23, pp. 536-539) .—T\x\ii is the full 

 text of a paper read before the International Congress of Applied Chemistry at Berlin, 

 in 1903, a brief extract of which has already been noted (E. S. R., 15, p. 131 ).« In 

 it the author gives statistics of consumption of nitrogen compounds to show the 

 importance and desirability of some practical means of utilizing atmospheric nitrogen 

 for industrial purposes. He reviews the history of attempts to fix the free nitrogen 

 of the air in the form of nitrates, cyanids, and ammonia from Priestley's experiments 

 in 1785 in oxidizing the atmospheric nitrogen by means of the electric spark to the 

 recently proposed methods of preparing cyanamid by passing atmospheric nitrogen 

 freed from a large ]iart of the oxygen normally associated with it in the air over fused 

 carbids of the alkali earths or by fusing a mixture of calcium carbonate and coal in 

 presence of the nitrogen gas in an electric furnace. 



In this connection he refers to the work of himself and Caro beginning in 1895 oii 

 the preparation of the carbids of the alkali earths, originally with a view solely to 

 the manufacture of cyanids, experiments being made first with barium carbid and 

 later with calcium carbid. It was found in these experiments that the fixation of 

 the nitrogen by barium or calcium carbid did not result in the formation of barium 

 or calcium cyanid, as was expected, but in barium or calcium cyanamid (BaCN^ or 

 CaCNj) which yielded cyanids on fusion with alkali salts. By heating the cyanamid 

 with water under high pressure calcium carbonate and ammonia were formed as 

 follows: CaCN.2+3H20 = CaC03+2NH3. The better grade of cyanamid prepared 

 by the above process contain from 14 to 22 per cent of nitrogen. By dissolving the 

 (•yanamid in water and crystallizing in the cold, a dicyanamid (CN2H2)2 containing 

 66 per cent of nitrogen was obtained. This is a white salt resembling ammonium 

 chlorid. 



The fertilizing value of the cyanamid (the so-called lime nitrogen) is discussed, 

 and the experiments of Gerlach and Wagner (E. S. R., 15, p. 25) are referred to as 

 establishing the high value of the product for this purpose. 



«In the previous notes on this subject the cyanamid has l»een incorrectly referred 

 to as a l^y-product of acetylene-gas manufacture. 



