THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



387 



attention of the agriculturist to a series 

 of experiments, which have been lately 

 undertaken by Professor Way, with a 

 view to unfold to us a property possessed 

 by all soils, in a smaller or less degree, 

 which, though it is of the greatest practi- 

 cal importance, has been hitherto alto- 

 gether left unnoticed. Professor Way's re- 

 searches on the absorptive powers of 

 soils for manure cannot be too highly ap- 

 preciated by the theoretical as well as by 

 the practical man, for the results to 

 which they have led already are no less 

 unexpected, and thus interesting, in a the- 

 oretical point of view, than calculated to 

 throw a new light on the inherent ferti- 

 lizing properties of soils, the rational ap- 

 plication of manures, the rotation of crops, 

 and, in short, have a direct practical bear- 

 ing on many agricultural operations. Al- 

 though Professor Way is still occupied 

 with the prosecution of this highly impor- 

 tant subject, it will not be out of place 

 to make a somewhat detailed reference 

 to his investigations ; for the two papers 

 which have appeared in the Journal of the 

 Royal Agriculural Society, on the absorp- 

 tive properties of soils, by the pen of 

 Professor Way, have already led to the 

 discovery of a hitherto unsuspected pro- 

 perty, possessed by all fertile soils, and 

 are fraught with results which cannot be 

 too highly appreciated by the practical 

 man. We have no hesitation to say that 

 Professor Way's researches on this sub- 

 ject embody by far the most important 

 and practically useful results with which 

 we have become acquainted within the 

 past fifty years. 



Professor Way's investigations origin- 

 ated in an observation of Mr. Thompson, 

 of Kirby Hall, near York, who, in 1845, 

 first observed, by direct experiments, that 

 soils had the faculty of separating ammo- 

 nia from its solutions. This observation, 

 and an experiment made by Mr. Huxta- 

 ble, in which this gentleman found that 

 liquid manure, after the passage through 

 a bed of an ordinary loamy soil, was de- 

 prived of smell and discolorized, induced 

 Mr. Way to institute a series of experi- 

 mental researches on the .powers of soils 

 to absorb manuring substances, which 

 have not only fully confirmed Mr. Thomp- 

 son's previous observations, but which 

 have also brought to light numerous 



highly important additional facts, to which 

 it is our duty now to allude. 



In numerous and varied experiments, 

 Professor Way has shown that, when a 

 comparatively weak solution of caustic 

 ammonia is passed through a considera- 

 ble quantity of soil, it invariably loses 

 the ammonia, although, previous to filtra- 

 tion, it exhibited decidedly the peculiar 

 odour of that volatile alkali. When, 

 however, stronger solutions of ammonia 

 were filtered through soil, or when the 

 proportion of the latter was greatly di- 

 minished, only a portion of the ammonia 

 was absorbed, and the remainder passed 

 through the soil with the water. It thus 

 is evident that the power of soils to ab- 

 sorb ammonia has its limits ; and w 7 hat 

 these limits are Professor Way has deter- 

 mined in several particular cases. Thus, 

 1000 parts of a soil from the thin land of 

 the Dorsetshire downs, was found to ab- 

 sorb from a solution of caustic ammo- 

 nia — 



In one experiment, 3-083 grains of ammonia. 



In a second experiment, 3-921 " 

 In a third " 3 504 " 



In a fourth " 3 438 " 



It will be observed that these quantities of 

 absorbed ammonia vary to some extent 

 in these experiments. The differences 

 arise from the circumstance of solutions 

 of different strength having been employ- 

 ed in each experiment, Professor Way 

 having found that the same soil absorbs, 

 in different experiments, the same-amount 

 of ammonia and other compounds expe- 

 rimented with, when solntions of equal 

 strength are employed, but unlike quanti- 

 ties, when solutions of different strength 

 are made use of. 



In another soil which had a light-red 

 colour, and was taken from l\Tr. Pusey's 

 estate in Berkshire, the quantity of am- 

 monia absorbed by 10p0 grains amounted 

 to 1-570 grains, thus showing that differ- 

 ent soils possess this property in a very 

 unequal degree. Numerous other expe- 

 riments might be cited ; however, these 

 examples will be quite sufficient to illus- 

 trate the differences in the quantities of 

 ammonia which are absorbed by soils of 

 different descriptions ; and we pass onto 

 observe that Professor Way not only 

 found that soils had the power of sepa- 

 rating ammonia from its solution, but also 



