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The celebrated Sprengel says, that "whoever fails to employ 

 '* some neutralizing substance to combine with the ammonia 

 " which is produced in so great a degree during summer, 

 " suffers a loss of manure which exceeds all belief. It is 

 only a gaseous substance, and not a solid material visible 

 to the naked eye, w^hich thus escapes and is lost; but for 

 all that, it is of greater importance to the nourishment of 

 " plants than perhaps any other portion of the manure." 

 The still more celebrated Liebig says, that " the chief art of 

 " agriculture depends upon the collection and preservation of 

 those manures which contain ammonia in the greatest quan- 

 " tity." He also observes, in another part of his work, that 

 with every pound of ammonia which evaporates, a loss of 

 601bs of corn is sustained." And many other writers of 

 the present time, who have treated on the subject of manure, 

 and its economical management, coincide in opinion with 

 these eminent men, that the loss of ammonia deprives the 

 manure of its most fertilizing property. How, then, can we 

 arrest this valuable constituent, and prevent it from " wasting 

 " its sweetness on the desert air ?" Although we ought not 

 certainly to consider it as entirely lost when it ascends into 

 the atmosphere, as the next shower will again bring it down, 

 yet to the farmer who wishes to apply his manure specifically, 

 it is in a great measure wasted, as he has returned to him only 

 a very small per centage of what has been derived from his own 

 premises. Some months ago, in reading either Liebig's 

 Organic Chemistry," or Professor Johnstone's " Lectures 

 on Agricultural Chemistry," (works which every one interes- 

 ted in agriculture ought to possess), I met with a suggestion 

 that sulphuric acid might be applied with good effect to 

 manure heaps for this desirable purpose; that is, of fixing, or 

 rendering not volatile, the ammonia therein generated. The 

 sulphuric acid, entering into combination with the ammonia, 

 forms a neutral salt, the sulphate of ammonia, which is a 



