CYANAMID — MANUI^ACTURE, CHE:MISTRY AND USIiS 6/ 



the seed, can under certain conditions be decomposed into 

 ammonia, so that is no longer poisonous. Nevertheless, the 

 sulphocyanates to the extent that they remain undecomposed 

 in the soil are decided plant poisons and cannot be applied as 

 fertilizers. 



"On the contrary, nitrate of soda, sulphate of ammonia, 

 nitrate of ammonia, and carbonate of ammonia contained in 

 manure, are known as very favorable nitrogen fertilizers and 

 they are still regarded as such, although it is known that under 

 certain conditions they can act disadvantageous^. Very con- 

 centrated solutions of these nitrogen fertilizers, especially car- 

 bonate of ammonia, can, as is evident from our contribution in 

 Volume 66 of the Agricultural Experiment Station Reports, 

 have a depressing action upon the development of plants, and 

 under certain circumstances (which indeed do not occur in 

 agricultural practise) they can produce complete destruction 

 of the plant. No one, however, designates nitrate of soda, 

 sulphate of ammonia or manure as plant poisons. In a 

 similar manner it is known that fertilization with quicklime 

 must be carried out with great care. Professor Tacke has 

 determined by researches upon moor soils a very disadvan- 

 tageous action of lime fertilization, and I, and others, have 

 found that lime can act harmfully on ordinary soils if the lime 

 is applied in too large quantities or at the wrong time. No 

 one will, however call quicklime, which is known as a highly 

 valuable fertilizer material, a plant poison. 



"In just the same way Cyanamid, or so-called lime 

 nitrogen, is to be regarded not as a plant poison, but as a fer- 

 tilizer, although it, exactly like quicklime and other fertilizers 

 under some conditions, can act harmfully upon the growth of 

 plants. Cyanides, sulphocyanates and similar nitrogen com- 

 pounds are plant poisons; they act poisonously in very great 

 dilution and cannot sa-ve as fertilizers under any conditions. 

 Cyanamid, however, does not belong to this class, for 

 this compound can act harmfully or poisonously upon plants 

 only in case of very wrong methods of application. 



