On the Nitrate of Soda. 



143 



An ingenious young friend of mine, accustomed to chemical analysis, 

 has been kind enough to examine the two samples of wheat with great 

 care and skill. He states that 100 parts of each gave the following 

 products : — 





Wheat on which 

 the Nitrate was 

 used, gave 



Whf'at on which 

 no Nitrate was 

 nsed, gave 



Bran . . . , , 



25- 



24- 



Gluten .... 



23-25 



19. 



Starch .... 



49-5 



55*5 



Albumen .... 



1-375 



•625 



Extract .... 



•375 



•25 



Loss and water 



• 5 



•(525 





100- parts. 



100- parts. 



This result is interesting and gives a somewhat different, though not 

 less favourable, view of the use of the nitrate. It will be seen that the 

 first sample contains 5 per cent, more gluten and albumen than the 

 second, at the expense of a slightly greater proportion of starch — viz., 

 1 per cent. 



Now as gluten and albumen contain nearly 16 per cent, of nitrogen, 

 and are the only component parts of the gi-ain of wheat in which it is to 

 be found, their existence in excess in the nitrated w^heat is clearly to 

 be traced to nitrogen in the food of the plant; but whether derived en- 

 tirely from the nitrate itself, or in part from the ammonia given off by 

 the more rapid decomposition of other manures in the soil caused by the 

 soda, admits of some doubt, and is a question which, if not already set 

 at rest by the researches of physiologists, calls for their attention ; for 

 the answer would probably afford much of the information required as 

 to the exhausting properties of these salts. In the mean time, whatever 

 may be its modus operandi, the above experiments seem to establish 

 that the nitrate of soda increases the gluten and albumen in the grain of 

 wheat, and we may now consider some of the advantages and disad- 

 vantages of such an effect. 



These substances, which, as such, are alone common to the animal 

 and vegetable kingdom, and seem, indeed, to partake rather of the cha- 

 racter of the former than of the latter, are believed to be more nutritious 

 than any other vegetable products. Sir H. Davy says of gluten, that it 

 appears to be one of the most nutritive of vegetable substances, and 

 that wheat seems to owe its superiority to other grain to its containing 

 gluten in larger quantities. In his analysis of wheats he gives gluten 

 as varying from 19 to 24 per cent. 



Professor Liebig, of Giessen, in his late work on " Organic Chemistry," 

 says that " the meal of Alsace wheat contains, according to Boussin- 

 gault, 11*3 per cent, of gluten ; that of wheat grown in the Jardin des 

 Plantes, 26*7 ; and that of winter wheat, 3 '33." He alludes also to 

 one — the produce of an animal manure, which yields the maximum of 



