AIISOUI'TION OF SALTS liV SOILS. 



115 



solutions of both ammonia and ammonium chloride, each hav- 

 ing a strength of a little above .3 per cent, of ammonia. 

 The following are his results put in tabular form: 



Amounts of ammonia absorbed by soils. 



It will be observed that very large amounts of ammonia are 

 absorbed from the) two kinds of solutions by the soils used. 

 From the standpoint of field problems and conditions Way's so- 

 lutions were far too strong to* give the precise knowledge which 

 is needed to satisfactorily illuminate the absorption phenomena 

 for the very dilute solutions which nearly always occur, under 

 field conditions, in cultivated soils. 



OBSERVATIONS OF VOELCKER. 



Voelcker, following Way, did a large amount of work bear- 

 ing upon the absorption and retention power of soils for not 

 only ammonia but for other substances as well. To obtain the 

 results here cited he used five soils: 



1. A calcareous clay. 



2. A fertile loam, containing a little lime, mixed in equal 

 proportions with its clay subsoil. 



*Journal Royal Agricultural Society, Volume XXI, 1860, p. 105. 



