ACTION OF NITROGENOUS FERTILIZERS. 229 



urine, and the evaporation of the mixture to dryness. It 

 consists of 35 parts of ammonia; 53 Ibs. of sulphuric acid; 

 and 1 2 Ibs. of water. It is thus an exceedingly concen- 

 trated fertilizer and can be used only in combination with 

 other substances or in very small quantities evenly spread 

 over the soil. It is soluble and active in the soil, and ex- 

 erts a correspondingly rapid and useful effect upon vegeta- 

 tion, hence it is sold at a high price; the nitrogen in it be- 

 ing valued in the market at 18$ cents per pound. The 

 present market price (wholesale) of this substance is $60 

 per ton, and at the estimation of 20 2 per cent, of nitrogen, 

 this is thus procured at about 15 cents per pound. 



The action of this fertilizer is a matter of importance, as 

 it may affect the growth of leaf or grain. Experiments with 

 it have shown that it is especially useful for turnips, an ap- 

 plication of 100 Ibs of it having increased the crop from 13 

 tons on unmanured soil, to 24$ tons upon the fertilized part 

 of the field. Generally it has a most notable effect upon 

 the foliage; but this is to be considered in relation to the 

 effect of a luxuriant foliage upon the quantity of starch or 

 gluten, w r hich may be stored in the plant or in the seed* 

 Thus a crop of wheat dressed with 100 Ibs. of this salt per 

 acre, gave not only an increased crop of grain, but the flour 

 made from the grain yielded 10$ per cent, of gluten which 

 was one per cent, more than that from any other application 

 , of manure, and somewhat more than the yield from nitrate 

 of soda. This is an instance of how a fertilizer containing 

 a large proportion of nitrogen, increased the quantity of ni- 

 trogen in the crop. There has rarely been an instance in 

 any experiment with this salt of ammonia, of its failure to 

 increase the growth of leaf and grain. The large quantity 

 of sulphuric acid no doubt has something to do with the in- 

 crease of the gluten in wheat, as this substance contains 

 sulphur; and on this account the use of sulphate of ammonia 

 is often recommended in preference to the nitrate of soda 

 for the supply of nitrogen to the soil. 



FISH SCRAP is the waste of the fish oil manufacture. The 

 fish, chiefly menhaden, which come near our coasts in enor- 



