WHAT IS POTENTIAL AMMONIA? 31 



potential ammonia in the chemically dry peat was found to vary 

 from 0.58 in the poorest, to 4.06 per cent in the richest samples. 

 In other words, one deposit of muck may contain seven times as 

 much nitrogen as another, and it would be well before spending 

 much money in drawing out muck for manure to send a sample of 

 it to some good chemist. A bed of swamp-muck, easily acces- 

 sible, and containing 8 per cent of nitrogen, would be a mine of 

 wealth to any farmer. One ton of such muck, dry, would contain 

 more nitrogen than 7 tons of straw. 



" It would be capital stuff," said the Deacon, " to put in your 

 pig-pens to absorb the urine. It would make rich manure." 



" That is so," said I, " and the weak point in my pig-breeding is 

 the want of sufficient straw. Pigs use up more bedding than any 

 other animals. I have over 200 pigs, and I could use a ton of dry 

 muck to each pig every winter to great advantage. The pens 

 would be drier, the pigs healthier, and the manure richer." 



The Doctor here interrupted us. "I see," said he, "that the 

 average amount of ammonia in the 33 samples of dry peat analyzed 

 by Professor Johnson is 2.07 per cent. I had no idea that muck was 

 so rich. Barn-yard manure, or the manure from the horse stables in 

 the cities, contains only half a per cent (0.5) of ammonia, and it is 

 an unusually rich manure that contains one per cent. We are safe 

 in saying that a ton of dry muck, on the average, contains at least 

 twice as much potential ammonia as the average of our best and 

 richest stable-manure." 



CHAPTER VI. 

 WHAT IS POTENTIAL AMMONIA? 



" You say," said the Deacon, " that dry muck contains twice as 

 much 'potential ammonia'' as manure?' ' 



" Yes," said the Doctor, " it contains three or four times as 

 much as the half-rotted straw and stalks you call manure." 



"But what do you mean," asked the Deacon, "by 'potential 

 ammonia? ' " 



;: It is a term," said the Doctor, " we used to hear much more fre- 

 quently than we do now. Ammonia is composed of 14 Ibs. of 

 nitrogen and. 3 Ibs. of hydrogen ; and if, on analysis, a guano or 



