114 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



more value as manure than straw; this is 

 because clover contains more nitrogen 

 than straw. Practical farmers know that 

 manure made by animals eating oil cake 

 and peas is worth more than that made by 

 animals eating nothing but turnips or hay, 

 and this is because oil cake and peas con- 

 tain such a large quantity of nitrogen — 

 Blood, wooien rags, horn shavings, leather, 

 hair and the carcasses of animals, are all 

 known to be the best of' fertilizers. They 

 are so, simply because they contain such 

 a large amount of nitrogen. In fact, we 

 know of no substance containing much ni- 

 trogen, but what practical farmers consid- 

 er, without knowing why, of great value 

 as manure. The value of Peruvian gua- 

 no is always estimated by the quantity of 

 nitrogen it contains. The more intelligent 

 dealers, before purchasing, always have 

 the per centage of nitrogen determined in 

 yarious cargoes, and buy that which con 

 tains the most. On this point the late 

 Prof. Norton says that during his stay in 

 Edinburgh, samples from more than 500 

 cargoes of guano were analyzed in the 

 laboratory of Prof. Johnston, and were sold 

 by his analyses, fluctuating in price as 

 they indicated more or less nitrogen. — 

 " Had there been any mistake," he justly 

 observes, f< in this method of estimating 

 value, experience would soon have detect- 

 ed it.'.' 



As nitrogen is such an important ele- 

 ment of fertility, we may be justified in 

 giving some account of its action and char- 

 acteristics. In its elementary state, it is 

 always a gas. It forms 78 per cent, of at- 

 mospheric air, acting simply as a dilutent 

 to oxygen. It is inhaled and respired from 

 the lungs without the least change, and is 

 not taken up by plants in its elementary 

 state. M. Ville, indeed has published the 

 results of careful experiments which indi- 

 cate that plants have the power of taking 

 up nitrogen, but the bulk of the evidence 

 on this point is against him. It is an in- 

 dispensable ingredient in all animal and 

 vegetable life. Nothing that possesses or- 

 ganization or vitality, whether animal or 

 vegetable, can be formed without it. 



As plants or animals cannot take their 

 nitrogen as such, from earth or air, it fol- 

 lows that it must undergo some chemical 

 change previous to its entrance into or- 

 ganic life. This change is the conversion 

 of unorganized nitrogen into ammonia*— 



This takes place under certain well known 

 circumstances, but the operation is so slow 

 and so limited, that it must have taken in- 

 definite ages to form all the ammonia and 

 products resulting from it at present exist- 

 ing on the earth — unless ammonia was cre- 

 ated as such. But, whether this was or 

 was not the case, is of little importance. 

 We know that nitrogen is organized, and 

 that by the decay of all organic bodies 

 their nitrogen is converted into ammonia, 

 and that this ammonia is taken up by 

 plants and again becomes organized nitro- 

 gen. 



Ammonia is always formed by the ulti- 

 mate decay or combustion of a nitroge- 

 nous substance, 14 pounds of nitrogen 

 uniting with 3 pounds of hydrogen, to form 

 17 pounds of ammonia. It is a gas much 

 lighter than the air, and rapidly evapo- 

 rates when exposed in a free state. It is 

 an alkali similar in many respects to pot- 

 ash and soda, forming fixed salts with all 

 the mineral and with most of the organic 

 acids, and has a very strong affinity for 

 them. It is rapidly absorbed by water, for 

 which it has a great affinity, though no 

 combination takes place. As formed from 

 decaying substances it always unites with 

 carbonic acid, forming the volatile salt, 

 carbonate of ammonia. It is this salt 

 which all have observed on entering an ill 

 ventilated stable after it has been closed 

 for some time. It is what ladies some- 

 times endeavor to keep themselves awake 

 with in church, stimulating the nostrils 

 when there is little in the sermon to stim- 

 ulate Ihe brain. If you doubt that the 

 nice clean hartshorn you have purchased 

 of the druggist is the same as that given 

 off from all decaying animal and vegetable 

 substances, get a little moist guano, urine, 

 Blood, or any other animal matter, and 

 mix it with ashes or lime, allowing it to 

 stand a short time in a covered vessel, 

 and then see if you can detect the least 

 difference in the smell of the two gases — 

 the one purchased in the city, and the one 

 of domestic manufacture. 



Carbonate of ammonia contains all the 

 four organic elements which compose such 

 a large proportion (generally from 90 to 98 

 per cent.) of all animal and vegetable 

 sub?tances ; and it is in this shape that ni- 

 trogen is taken up by the plant and orga- 

 nized into food for animals. This is a, 

 strong argument, though we possess a still 



