1854 . 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
213 
highly disagreeable were it to pass off as carbonic acid 
does in the breath, but the urinary functions are 
charged with its excretion, and from them it is sepa¬ 
rated in the solid form, and to a great extent as a 
substance which may be obtained in beautiful white 
crystals, and which is known to the chemist as urea. 
This body, dissolved in the urine, very soon becomes 
decomposed, and what is remarkable, it falls directly 
into carbonate of ammonia. We hardly need stop 
here to adduce facts to prove that ammonia acts favor¬ 
ably to 'vegetation. Every farmer knows it. Some 
trials made by Ville are, however, too interesting to be 
passed over. He caused plants to grow in chambers, 
to the air of which he added a small quantity of am¬ 
monia. He found that tlie addition of 4-10,000 of 
ammonia to the air, produced a result apparent to the 
eye after a few days, and thereafter becoming more 
and more considerabls, making the vegetation luxuri¬ 
ant, and giving tlie foliage a deep green color. The 
highty important fact was fully proved by him that 
the amount of nitrogen in plants grown under these 
circumstances, was far greater (almost the double) 
than in an equal weight of the same kind of plant 
which had grown in the ordinary air.* 
The fact that ammonia exists in the atmosphere has 
been known for a long time, and several attempts have 
been made to determine the amount therein. The re¬ 
sults of different experimenters are very various. 
Those of Ville are the most recent, and have been con¬ 
ducted with such care, and on so large a scale as to 
give them the preference over all previous ones. He 
found the quantity to vary between 31 and 16 parts in 
1,000,000,000. In 16 experiments the average was 
found to be 22 parts in 1,000,000,000. In the article 
to which I have had access, he does hot communicate 
the circumstances causing these differences, but they 
are probably to a great degree due to meteorological 
changes. How they might have been affected by rain, 
fog and dew, will be seen by the experiments of Bous- 
singault, which I here communicate. 
Boussingault has investigated the amount of ammo¬ 
nia contained in rain water. Since the forms of am¬ 
monia found in the atmosphere are very soluble in wa¬ 
ter, it appears that a rain would wash them out of the 
air and carry them to the soil. This is found to be the 
case to a great extent. Boussingault’s experiments 
were conducted in the country at a distance from the 
abnormal atmosphere of large towns, and the water 
falling during each rain was collected in 5 to 8 sepa¬ 
rate successive portions, and the ammonia content of 
each separately determined. He always found that 
the first portions of rain contained the largest amount 
of Ammonia, the quantity decreasing, and at last al¬ 
most but not quite failing entirely. He also found 
that when an interval of but a' few hours elapsed be¬ 
tween two showers, the quantity contained in the first 
portion of the second shower was always greater than 
that yielded by the last portion of the first rain. Af¬ 
* The details of Ville’s expeymeats will occupy a special 
article in some future number. 
ter long continued dry weather the ammonia was more 
than when rains were frequent. When the fall of 
rain did not exceed 2-100 of an inch, the ammonia 
formed 311,000-1000,000,000. A fall whose depth was 
between 2-100 and 4-100 in. contained 121,000-1000,- 
000,000, and between 4-100 and 20-100 in. 70,000- 
1000,000,000, between 20-100 and 1 25-100 in. 45.000- 
1000,000,000. During one rain of If hour in August 
’53, commencing at 4 h p. m. after ten days of dry 
weather, fell 5^-100 in.water; about if galls, were coE 
lected and contained in the gall, (wine measure) 8-100 
of a grain, Troy, of ammonia ; nearly the half of 
this was collected in the first sixth of the shower. Two 
days afterward it began to rain at 7|, A. m., and rain¬ 
ed gently till 11 , a. m.; 85 in. fell ; about 2 f gall, of 
water were collected, the average content of which 
was only 2-100 of a grain per gallon. Of the total 
amount, more than the half was contained in the first 
fourth of the rain, more than £ in the first eighth. 
The total quantity of ammonia was less than f that 
found in the rain of two days before. At 6, p. m., of 
the same day fell a sharp shower lasting f hour. The 
collected rain was about 1-3, and the ammonia was 
4-5 that of the morning rain. The reason of the small 
amount of ammonia in morning rain is, doubtless, that 
the dew of the preceding night had washed the air to 
a great extent, while between 11 , a. m., and 6, p. m., 
evaporation went on rapidly, carrying the ammonia 
again into the air. Boussingault was able oh several 
occasions to collect sufficient dew (£ gallon) to deter¬ 
mine its ammonia. He found that body present in 
greater proportion than in rain. He also collected 
atmospheric water during fogs, and found in it as 
much ammonia as in dew, and on one occasion the 
water contained so much that it was detectable by the 
ordinary tests. Boussingault remarks to the effect 
that ‘‘these facts explain themselves, by the nature of 
the carbonate of ammonia which, doubtless, is the form 
in which the greater part of the ammonia exists. This 
carbonate is volatile and very soluble in w T ater. Form¬ 
ed in or upon the soil, from decay, &c., it continually 
passes off into the air as vapor, and it is clear that it 
will be taken up by rain, dew, &c.,and brought again 
to the earth, and that rain will contain more when it 
begins than when it ceases. When the rain is over 
the carbonate vaporizes again, and indeed faster, ac¬ 
cording as the temperature is higher, and the physical 
and che'mical properties of the soil favor evaporation. 
There thus occurs a perpetual exchange of ammonia 
between the air and the soil.” 
From the 26th May to the 16th Nov., Boussingault 
examined all the rams, dews and fogs which could be 
collected. On a surface of 268 sq. ft. he collected 462 
gallons of water, which contained a little less than 14 
grains of ammonia, a rate of a little more than 5 oz. 
per acre. Admitting as much as this to be actually 
brought within reach of the plant, it is but a small 
contribution to the growing crop. An acre of wheat 
yielding 30 bushels, contains nitrogen equivalent to 
30—35 lbs. of ammonia, or 100 times the amount 
