378 ON WATER FROM PEAT AND SOIL. 



peat do not become dissolved, so as to form a 

 very deeply coloured solution. They form a 

 solution of a pale yellow. But in grounds which 

 are warmer, or what is better, well drained, the 

 amount of soluble matter is very great. The 

 colour of such water is not to be confounded with 

 the water which heavy showers bring down, filled 

 with mud and bits of peat. It is often perfectly 

 clear and bright, but brown, like coffee. The 

 acids, in solution at such times, are kept so by 

 the presence of ammonia. Ammonia dissolves 

 them in large quantities ; and along with them 

 also the salts which they form with lime, mag- 

 nesia, soda, phospates, &c. 



In the absence of heat, this ammonia is not 

 formed ; and grass, or other vegetables, do not 

 grow. The great solvent power of ammonia led 

 me to believe that its use must be more general 

 than merely on a peaty hill. The same com- 

 pounds found in heathy soil, are found in the most 

 fertile soils, and the same ammonia is wanted to 

 give them solnbility. The quantity of ammonia 

 put upon land, is much greater than can be 

 absorbed by plants ; but it renders the food of 

 plants soluble, not the organic only, but the 

 inorganic. 



