122 
On the Chemical Properties of Soils. 
2. — Experiment with Solution ^^o. 2. 
Aramonin. 
Grains. 
Before contact with soil the solution contained ,, .. 2"128 
After contact ,, .... 1-008 
1-120 
Therefore 1-120 grains of ammonia were absorbed by 1750 
grains of soil, or 1000 grains absorbed "64 grains of ammonia. 
3. — Experiment icith Solution No. 3. 
Ammonia. 
Grains. 
Before contact with soil the solution contained .. .. 1-232 
After contact .... -777 
•455 
Thus "455 grains of ammonia were absorbed by 1750 grains of 
soil, or 1000 grains absorbed -26 grains of ammonia, 
4. — Experiment with Solution No. 4. 
Before contact with soil the solution contained .. .. '616 
After contact „ .... '441 
-175 
Therefore -175 grains of ammonia were absorbed by 1750 grains 
of soil, or 1000 grains of soil absorbed '100 grains of ammonia. 
According to the strength of the different solutions 1000 
grains of soil thus absorbed in — 
Ammonia. 
Grains. 
No. 1 ] -32 
No. 2 -64 
No. 3 -26 
No. 4 -10 
Not only is the absolute quantity of ammonia which this soil 
absorbs from an ammoniacal solution larger as the solution 
employed is stronger ; but very dilute solutions are relatively 
less exhausted by it than stronger ones. 
Thus, whilst in the two first experiments, in round numbers, 
one-half of the ammonia contained in the solutions was ab- 
sorbed, in the 3rd Experiment about one-third, and In the 4th only 
about one-fourth of the ammonia was retained by the soil. 
In the next place I made some additional experiments for the 
purpose of ascertaining whether this soil, after having taken up as 
much ammonia as it will from a weaker solution, would take up 
more from a stronger one. 
Experiment 5. 
The solution left in the bottle from Experiment No. 2 was drawn 
off as much as possible, the liquid remaining with the soil was 
