THE EFFECT OF SULFATE OF AMMONIA 

 ON SOIL. 



R. W. RUPRECHT AND F. W. MORSE. 



Introduction. 



This bulletin is a record of efforts to determine the changes which the 

 long-continued use of sulfate of ammonia has produced in soils. 



The action of ammonium sulfate on soils has received attention in one 

 way or another for many years. Among the first workers who used this 

 salt in experiments was Way' (1850). In studying the absorption of 

 ammonia by soils he found that soils had the power to absorb the am- 

 monia from aimiionium sulfate, but left the acid radical in solution in 

 combination with another base, generally calcium. Voelcker^ continued 

 the work of Way and confirmed his results. Beyer, ^ in studying the ab- 

 sorption wdth potassium and anmionium chlorides, found that the absorp- 

 tion was dependent on the amount of iron and aluminium oxides present 

 in the soils, and that the quantity of calcium and magnesium removed was 

 almost equivalent to the potassium absorbed. Morse and Curry,* in 

 working on clay with potassimn and sodium salts, found that the bases 

 were absorbed, and that in exchange calcium, magnesium, iron and alu- 

 minium were removed. In the presence of lime and carbonate of hme the 

 iron and aluminium were precipitated. 



Other workers^ who studied the absorption but used different salts 

 found the same general principle to hold true, namely, that the soil has 

 the power to absorb the basic part of the salt, but that this power does not 

 extend to the acid radical. 



As to the results due to fertilization with ammonium suKate we may 

 cite the following investigators : — 



Lawes and Gilbert,^ in studying the drainage waters from differently 

 fertilized plots, found that the plots treated with ammonium sulfate had 

 much larger amounts of calcium removed than the other plots. They 

 reached the conclusion that all of the suKuric acid from the ammonium 

 sulfate was removed as calcium suKate. Wheeler^ found that the long- 



' Way, Jour. Roy. Agr. Soc, Vol. 11 (1850) and Vol. 13 (1852). 



2 Voelcker, Jour. Roy. Agr. Soc, Vols. 21, 60 and 62. 



' Beyer, Ann. der Landwirtschaft, Bd. I. and II. 



* Rept., N. H. Agr. Exp. Sta., 1906-08, p. 274. 



' Frank, Salomon, Biedermann, Neutler, Knop, Frey, Pillitz, Kellner and Van Bemmelen. 



^ Lawes and Gilbert, Rothamstead Memoirs, Vol. 5, p. 97. 



' Wheeler, Ann. Rept., R. I. Exp. Sta., 1893. 



