HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 219 



AMMONIA ON PLANTS. 



The subject of the action of Ammonia on plants is exciting 

 considerable attention in England. We copy below from the Gard- 

 ener's Chronicle accounts of experiments, the first of which is being 

 tried at the Horticultural Society's Garden. 



M. Ville's mode of giving Ammonia to plants, with a view to increase 

 their bulk and vigour, is being tried in the large stove in which one of his 

 apparatuses has been placed. It consists of two clear glass bottles with 

 long necks, furnished with tight-fitting corks, in each of which is inserted a 

 small bent glass tube. These two tubes are joined together by means of an 

 India-rubber connection, or small hose, thus forming a communication be- 

 tween the two bottles. In the cork of one of the bottles is an escape tube 

 (also of glass), which is connected (by means of a small India-rubber hose), 

 with other small glass pipes that are laid all along and across the bed, and 

 through which the ammonia is intended to pass, in order that it maybe the 

 better diffused among the plants. When the bottles are put to work, one is 

 charged with chalk, on which is poured sulphuric acid, and the other with 

 unslacked lime, over which is poured a solution of ammonia. The result of 

 this experiment will, of course, be published in due time. Its conduct has 

 been entrusted to Mr. Spriggs, the young man in charge of the house, who 

 is to note down its effects daily, and report the same to the Vice-Secretary. 

 In another column will be found some further account of furnishing plants 

 with more ammonia than they can get under ordinary circumstances. 



By Mr. Deane, Vice President of the Pharmaceutical Society. Ef- 

 fects analogous to those produced by M. Ville (see last year's volume, p. 

 755), with ammoniated air on the leaves of growing plants, have been ob- 

 served by me, as the results of applying solutions of ammoniacal salts to 

 the roots. My attention was first effectively turned to the subject about 

 eight or ten years since, when an extensive grower of Pelargoniums, 

 Fuchsias, and Hoses, applied to me for some remedy for the sickly con- 

 dition of his stock ; which, if left unchecked, would insure a very severe 

 loss to him. On examining the plants they were found to be in a star- 

 ving condition, the roots having filled the pots and exhausted the soil ; 

 consequently, the leaves had lost their healthy green colour, and become 

 very pale, with a strong tinge of yellow ; the lower leaves were quite yel- 

 low, spotted, and falling off. The natural remedy was obviously fresh 

 potting, but as the plants were already in pots best adapted to answer the 

 purposes of the grower, some other remedy had to be devised. I therefore 



