THE NITROGEN OF PROCESSED FERTILIZERS. 6 



hydrolysis of the proteins in the crude materials takes place, with the 

 formation of proteoses, peptones, polypeptides, or the simple amino 

 acids, the kinds and number of products formed necessarily depending 

 on the proportion of the different proteins in the original materials, 

 on the amount and strength of the acid, the length of time of the 

 reaction, and the temperature reached during the treatment. 



Hartwell and Pember * have recently made a study of base goods 

 in order to determine the availability of the nitrogen contained in 

 it as compared with that of the high-grade nitrogenous fertilizers. 

 The product which they used was made from hair tankage, garbage 

 tankage, and roasted leather, together with rock phosphate and sul- 

 phuric acid. From their report the following figures for the analysis 

 of the crude materials used in producing the fertilizer and of the 

 finished product are taken* 



Table !.• — Total nitrogen in cruae materials and finished product. (Hartwell and 



Pember. ) 



Nitrogen. 



Hair tankage 



Roasted leather 



Garbage tankage 



Base goods, including the above 



Water soluble nitrogen in base goods... 

 Water insoluble nitrogen in base goods 



Per cent. 

 6.28 

 6.49 

 2.87 

 1.68 

 1.28 

 .40 



Table II.- — Percentage of the total nitrogen present in different forms . (Hartwell and 



Pember. ) 



Before put- 

 ting into 

 the den. 



After re- 

 moving 

 from the 

 den. 



In ammonia 



In water soluble organic matter . . 

 In water insoluble organic matter 



6.5 

 7.8 



85.7 



14.3 



57.7 

 28.0 



The experimental work of the present investigation was along two 

 separate lines: (1) Analytical, involving total nitrogen determinations 

 and the separate estimation of the various forms in which nitrogen 

 may occur; (2) a determination of the definite chemical compounds 

 present in the fertilizer by suitable methods of isolation and identifi- 

 cation. 



THE CHEMICAL EXAMINATION OF BASE GOODS. 



TOTAL NITROGEN AND AMMONIA. 



Total nitrogen. — The total in the base goods was determined by the 

 Kjeldahl-Gunning- Arnold 2 method and was found to be 1.61 per 

 cent. 



i J. Ind. Eng. Chem., 4, 441 (1912). 



2 IT. S. Dept. Agr., Bureau of Chemistry, Circ, 108, 15 (1912); T. C.Trescot, J. Ind. Eng. Chem., 6, 914 

 (1913). 



