360 On Nitrate of Soda. 



half as mucli again as guano, scarcely exceeds that manure in. 

 contents of nitrogen : — ^ 



Nitrogen per cent. 



Saltpetre . . . . .12-43 

 Cubic nitre .... 14-77 



Guano ..... 14-34 



^ Mr. Way has been so good as to calculate for me the relative amounts of 

 nitrogen in these three substances as follows : — 



I Ammonia consists of— ' Guano. 



Nitrogen 14 (1 equivalent) 



Hydrogen . . . . 3 (3 equivalents) 



17 



Consequently guano, -which yields 17 "41 of ammonia, contains 14*34 per cent, of 

 nitrogen. 



Cubic Nitre, or 



Nitrate of Soda, consists of — 



Nitric acid (1 equivalent) . . . . 54*0 

 Soda (1 equivalent) . . , . . 31*3 



85*3 



Consequently 100 parts of nitrate of soda contain — 



Nitric acid 63*3 



Soda • . . . 36-7 



100-0 



Nitric Acid consists of — 



Nitrogen (1 equivalent) . . • . 14"0 

 Oxygen (5 equivalents) . . . .40*0 



54-0 



As therefore 100 parts of nitrate of soda contain 63*3 parts of nitric acid, the per- 

 centage of nitrogen in nitrate of soda will be 16 ■'41. 



The above calculation refers to pure nitrate of soda. For average commercial 

 nitrate of soda it will be fair to take off 10 per cent, for impurities and the admix- 

 ture of other salts, and for accidental moisture. 



From 16-41 



Deduct one -tenth 1-64 



14'77 



Which number fairly represents the nitrogen of 100 parts of commercial nitrate of 

 soda. 



Saltpetre, or 



Nitrate of Potash. — 100 parts of pure nitrate of potash consist of — 



Potash 46-68 



Nitric acid 53-32 



100-00 



As therefore 100 parts of nitric acid contain 25*9 parts of nitrogen, the 53-32 parts 

 of nitric acid in 100 of nitrate of potash will contain 13*81 parts of nitrogen. 



Pure nitrate of potash therefore contains 13' 81 per cent, nitrogen. Deduct 

 10 per cent, for the commercial nitrate, thus — 



From 13-81 



Take .... . . .1*38 



And we have . . . . . .12-43 



as the percentage of nitrogen in commercial nitrate of potash. 



