THE NITROGEN OF PROCESSED FERTILIZERS. 
hydrolysis of the proteins in the crude materials takes place, with the 
formation of proteoses, peptones, polypeptides, or the simple amino 
acids, the kinds and number of products formed necessarily depending 
on the proportion of the different proteins in the original materials, 
on the amount and strength of the acid, the length of time of the 
reaction, and the temperature reached during the treatment. 
Ilartwell and Pember ^ have recently made a study of base goods 
in order to determme the availability of the nitrogen contained in 
it as compared with that of the high-grade nitrogenous fertilizers. 
The product which they used was made from hair tankage, garbage 
tankage, and roasted leather, together with rock phosphate and sul- 
phuric acid. From their report the following figures for the analysis 
of the crude materials used in producing the fertilizer and of the 
finished product are taken* 
Table I. — Total nitrogen in cruae materials and finished product. {Eartwell and 
Pember. ) 
Nitrogen. 
Hair tankage 
Roasted leather 
Garbage tankage 
Base goods, including the above 
Water soluble nitrogen in base goods... 
Water insoluble nitrogen in base goods. 
Per cent. 
6.28 
6.49 
2.87 
1.68 
1.28 
.40 
Table II. — Percentage of the total nitrogen present in different forms . {Hartwell and 
Pember. ) 
Before put- 
ting into 
the den. 
After re- 
moving 
from the 
den. 
In ammonia 
In water soluble organic matter . . 
In water insoluble organic matter 
6.5 
7.8 
85.7 
14.3 
57.7 
28.0 
The experimental work of the present investigation was along two 
separate lines: (1) Analytical, involving total nitrogen determinations 
and the separate estimation of the various forms in which nitrogen 
may occur; (2) a determination of the definite chemical compounds 
present in the fertilizer by suitable methods of isolation and identifi- 
cation. 
THE CHEMICAL EXAMINATION OF BASE GOODS. 
TOTAL NITROGEN AND AMMONIA. 
Total nitrogen. — The total in the base goods was determined by the 
Kj eld ahl-Gunning- Arnold ^ method and was found to be 1.61 per 
cent. 
1 J. Ind. Eng. Chem., 4, 441 (1912). 
2U.S.Dept. Agr., Bureau of Chemistry, Circ, 108, 15(1912); T. C. Trescot, J. Ind. Eng. Chem., 5,914 
(1913). 
