51 



grams were taken in the case of sphagnum-covered peat, while 750 

 grams were taken in the case of calcareous black grass-peat. The 

 bottles were shaken at intervals during five days and then the con- 

 tents filtered through two thicknesses of a good grade of cheese 

 cloth and squeezed in the hands. The resulting solution was then j 

 filtered through two thicknesses of filter paper on a Buchner funnel. 



This extract was colored in each case but the calcareous black 

 grass-peat gave a deeper straw colored solution than did the sphag- 

 num-covered peat. This was probably due to the presence of a 

 larger amount of iron in the one case than in the other. The cal- 

 careous black grass-peat is known to contain a very considerable 

 quantity of iron. The wash water in both instances was also straw 

 colored. 



It has been shown by a number of investigators, e. g., Jodidi 

 (1909), Kelley and Thompson (1914), and Gortner (1916 a) 'that 

 considerable amounts of nitrogen are dissolved from certain soils 

 by this preliminary treatment. Xhe acid solution thus obtained 

 should contain the ammonia, acid amides, amines, amino acids, and 

 all other organic nitrogenous compounds soluble in water or very 

 dilute acid. The 1 per cent hydrochloric acid extracted 8.57 per cent 

 of the total nitrogen from sphagnum-covered peat, and 5.09 per 

 cent from the calcareous black grass-peat. 



Duplicate nitrogen determinations were made on 250 cc. por- 

 tions of the acid extract and from these results the total nitrogen 

 in the bulk solution determined. The 5500 cc. solution from sphag- 

 num-covered peat, containing 0.6468 gram nitrogen, and the 5000 

 cc. from the calcareous black grass-peat, containing 0.4690 grain 

 nitrogen, were used for analysis. These solutions were concen- 

 trated under reduced pressure to about 200 cc. and then hydrolyzed 

 for 48 hours, after first adding 75 cc. concentrated hydrochloric 

 acid to the solution from sphagnum-covered peat, and 100 cc. to 

 the solution from the calcareous black grass-peat. During evap- 

 oration under reduced pressure considerable hydrolysis took place 

 for the solutions turned dark brown in color. During hydrolysis 

 of calcareous black grass-peat silicic acid separated in the con- 

 denser.* 



The analysis of sphagnum-covered peat shows that over 65 per 

 cent of the nitrogen is in the form of ammonia. Potter and Snyder 

 (1915 a) have shown that a very small amount of the nitrogen 

 in the 1 per cent hydrochloric acid extract of soils exists in the soil 

 as ammonia nitrogen. It seemed probable that if an extract of the 

 peat contained so much ammonia nitrogen after hydrolysis, the air 

 dry peat must contain an appreciable amount in the ordinary con- 

 dition. The ammonia nitrogen was determined directly on a 5 gram 

 sample of the air dry material. An excess of calcium hydroxide 

 solution was added and the mixture distilled under reduced pressure 

 for forty-five minutes. It was found that 5.40 per cent of the total 



*This was also true with all of the mineral soils studied, and is probably 

 due to the presence of inorganic fluorides. 



