350 SAL-AMMONIAC AND CARBONATE OF AMMONIA. 



cheap rate to admit of an extensive application to the land.* The only 

 numerical results from the use of this salt with which I am acquainted, 

 are those given hy Mr. Fleming, who applied it at the rate of 20 lbs. 

 per acre to wheat on a heavy loam, and to winter rye, on a tilly clay, 

 both after potatoes, and obtained the following increase of produce per 

 acre : — 



Grain. Straw. 



Rye, undressed . 14 bushels 36| cwt. 



Do. dressed ♦. . 19 do. 43^ do. 



Increase ... 5 bushels. 7 cwt. 



Wheat, undressed 25 bushels, each 61 lbs. 

 Do. dressed . 26^ bushels, each 62 lbs. 



Increase - . . Ij bushels. 



The increase of these experiments was not very large, but the quan- 

 tity of sal-ammoniac employed was probably not great enough to pro- 

 duce a decided effect. It is a valuable fact for the farmer, however, and 

 not uninteresting in a theoretical point of view, that a part of the same 

 wheat field, dressed with li cwt. of common salt per acre, gave a pro- 

 duce of 40 bushels of grain (see Appendix, p. 19.) 



c. Carbonate of Ammonia — is obtained in an impure form by the dis- 

 tillation of horns, hoofs, anl even bones. In this impure form it is not 

 generally brought into the market, but in this state it might possibly be 

 afforded at so low a price as to place it within the reach of the practical 

 farmer^ It is supposed by some that this carbonate is too. volatile — or 

 rises too readily in the forni of vapour — to be economically applied to 

 the land. In the form of a weak solution, however, put on by a water 

 cart, or in moist showery weather simply as a top-dressing, especially 

 to grass lands and on light soils, it may be safely recommended where 

 it can be cheaply procured. 



d. Ammoniacai Liquor. — This is proved by the success which has in 

 many localities been found to attend the application of the ammoniacai 

 liquor of the gas works. This liquid holds in solution a variable quan- 

 tity of sulphate of ammonia and sal-ammoniac, f but in general it is 

 richest in the carbonate of ammonia. 



The strength of the liquor varies in different gas works; chiefly ac- 

 cording to the kind of coal employed for the manufacture of the gas. 

 One hundred gallons may contain from 20 lbs. to 40 lbs. of ammonia, 

 in one or other of the above states of combination. No precise rule, 

 therefore, can be given for the quantity which ought to be applied to the 

 acre of land, but as the application of a larger quantity can do no harm, 

 provided it be sufficiently diluted with water, one hundred gallons may 

 be safely put on at first, and more if experience should afterwards prove 

 it to be useful. 



On grass and clover, upon a heavy moist loam, Mr. Bishop applied 



* By mixing, for example, the waste muriatic acid, or the waste chloride of calcium, 

 with ga3 liquor, and evaporating the mixture to dryness. 



t Each gallon of the ammoniacai liquor of the Manchester gas-works is said to contain 

 9 ounces of Sql Ammoniae. In theM works the Canoel coal of Wigan is employed. 



