CHAPTER IV. 



Storage of Cyanamid. 



On exposure to the atmosphere, Cyanamid absorbs moisture 

 and carbon dioxide. This absorption of foreign material, of 

 course, increases the weight of the exposed sample, and hence 

 decreases the percentage of the original constituents. Neglect 

 to observe this increase in weight and corresponding decrease 

 of percentages led some early investigators to declare that nitro- 

 gen is lost when Cyanamid is stored for any great length of 

 time. It has lately been shown by carefully conducted experi- 

 ments in the laboratory as well as on a large scale, that under 

 conditions of storage customary for fertilizer materials there is 

 no loss of nitrogen. 



Factory Test. — When Cyanamid is stored in ordinary burlap 

 bags only the exposed surfaces can receive moisture and carbon 

 dioxide, and penetration into the interior of the bag or pile is 

 necessarily difficult. Even in damp climates, such absorption 

 is not very large when considered in its relation to the entire 

 pile. Thus, a pile of Cyanamid weighing 94,083 pounds, and 

 analysing 15.63 per cent, nitrogen was stored in a warehouse 

 over and a few feet above the surface of the St. Johns river at 

 Jacksonville, Florida, from July 7th to January 13th, and was 

 then carefully weighed and sampled by the purchaser, the 

 sample being taken from different portions of two out ot every 

 three bags in the lot. 



Weight 



Original 94.083 



After 7 months- 101,506 



Hence, even in this damp climate, where rains occur almost 

 daily during the summer months, the rate of increase of weight 

 is a little more than one per cent, a month, while the nitrogen 

 content remains constant. 



