CHEMISTRY. 



107 



ID ' part* by weight to amount to 13.42, dU- 



E billed us follOWl, viz. : . 

 Chlorine 7.88 

 i 



0.88 



im 8.88 



ium 0.99 



0.06 

 Magnesium 0.30 



The \\ -ater has a slight alkaline reaction, and 

 ' gravity of 1.102 at 17 Centigrade. 



Agricultural CkemUtry. In a report to the 

 Connecticut State Board of Agriculture on the 

 value of brewers' refuse hurley-grains as ma- 

 nure, and as food for milch-cows, Prof. 8. W. 

 Johnson states that 



As a/w*7ar, these grains most nearly compare 

 to stable-manure. Like the latter, they are a refuse 

 product, or residue of a kind of digestive process. I 

 give here tho comparative composition of the two 

 substances : 



The analysis of stable-manure is an average of sev- 

 eral analyses. It is seen that the grains contain 71 

 per cent, more water, 4 per cent, leas organic mat- 

 ter, more than 3 per cent, less ash. Nitrogen is ; 

 more in the grains, but it exists exclusively as gluten 

 or similar albuminoid, and not at all as ammonia 

 compound. The less activity of the nitrogen in the 

 grains is compensated by its greater quantity. The 

 ash consists chiefly of phosphates of lime and mag- 

 nesia, as is to be inferred from the treatment the 

 grains have received, and as Soheven found in analy- 

 ses of the ash of similar grains. In fact, the phos- 

 phate of these grains is about the same as that of 

 stable-dung, or one-third of one per cent. The solu- 

 ble ash ingredients of stable-manure, especially pot- 

 ash, must pe nearly lacking in the grains. 



Considering their low price, the grains must be re- 

 garded as a cheap manure, but they are deficient in 

 alkalies and sulphates, as compared with stable-dung. 



As ixtitle-food, these grains have a higher value 

 than for manure. This will be evident from the fol- 

 lowing analyses and remarks : 



The grains are seen to surpass corn-fodder in 

 every respect, and to contain four times the per- 

 centage ot albuminoid, or flesh-forming matters, of 

 the green maize-stalks. They compare also well 

 with grass before blossom, and have but one de- 

 ficiency ? viz., that of potash and sulphates.- The 

 proportion of albuminoids in brewers' grains exceeds 

 that of any kind of green fodder grown in this 

 country, young clover not exccpted. 



The condition of the nutritive matters in these 

 grains is doubtless adapted for rapid digestion, and 

 thev must be regarded as an excellent adjunct to the 

 farnii-r's resources. 



Estimation of Phosphoric Acid in Super- 

 phosphates. In a series of valuable papers, 



published in the Moniteur Scientific, on the 

 " K-timation of Phosphoric Acid in >\\\ -. 

 phatos," the author, II. J. Jotilic, readies tho 

 following conclusions: 



1. Tho superphosphates are not. as was at flr.t 

 supposed, mixtures of acid phosphate and of sul- 

 phate of lime, but they aluo contain free phosphoric 

 acid, acid phosphate of lime, biculcic phosphate, utid 

 unattackou tribanic phosphate. 



'2. The retrogradation they undergo In ageing is 

 due to a slow formation of bicalcic pnospliute at the 

 expense of the free phosphoric acid, which seizes on 

 the unattacked carbonate and phosphate of lime, and 

 of acid phosphate, which breaks up into free phos- 

 phoric acid and bicalcic phosphate. 



8. Aa the assimilabihty of the superphosphates 

 depends on the sum of the phosphoric acid which 

 they contain under the first three forms, it is in- 

 creased rather than lessened by drying and by age. 



4. The determination of the phosphoric acid solu- 

 ble in water gives only a very inadequate : dea of the 

 assimilability of the superphosphates, as it does not 

 take account of the phosphoric acid which they 

 contain in the shape of bicalcic phosphate, which 

 is at least as assimilable as the soluble phosphoric 

 acid. 



5. The determination of the phosphoric acid solu- 

 ble in^ the alkaline citrate of ammonia, under tne 

 conditions here described, is a precise measure of 

 the positive assimilability of the phosphates con- 

 tained in manures and superphosphates. 



6. The adoption by analysts of this method will 

 bring about an improvement in the manufacture 

 of superphosphates, will develop the precipitated 

 phospnale industry, and improve the production of 

 compound manures, wherein the assimilable phos- 

 phates will of necessity be substituted for the fossil 

 phosphates so soon as the analysts have ceased to 

 confound the two. 



Nitre-producing Plants. Upward of a year 

 ago a communication from A,. Boutin to the 

 French Academy of Sciences called attention 

 to the large amount of nitre found in the ash 

 of the plant Amaranthus blitum. During the 

 past year M. Boutin analyzed two other plants 

 of the some genus, viz., Amaranthus atropur- 

 pureus and A. melancholicus ruber, both of 

 them exotics, cultivated in gardens for the 

 sake of their beautiful foliage. The author 

 finds that the A. ruber, desiccated at 100 

 C., contains 16 per cent, nitrate of potash 

 equal to 22 grammes of nitrogen per kilo- 

 gramme of the dried plant, and 72 grammes 

 of potash. The A. atropurpureus contains, in 

 the dry state, 22.77 per cent, nitrate of pot- 

 ash ; consequently 1 kilogramme contains 31 

 grammes nitrogen and 103.5 grammes of pot- 

 ash. Having been dried for some time in the 

 open air, the stems of the plant are covered 

 with an efflorescence of nitrate of potash, in 

 fine, needle-shaped crystals. The author thinks 

 that sooner or later this family of plants will 

 be cultivated for tho sake of the nitrogenous 

 fertilizing materials they produce. 



The Nitrogen of the SoilProf. Armsby, of 

 Millbury, Mass., read, in the chemical section 

 of the American Association, a paper on this 

 subject, detailing a series of experiments 

 which he had made to determine the loss and 

 gain of nitrogen in the soil. His method was 

 to allow organic matter containing a known 



