US 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
January 8, 
STUDIES OF NITROGEN. 
What Is Sulphate of Ammonia ? 
We have seen how nitrogen is taken 
directly from the air and saved in two 
different ways. A powerful electric cur¬ 
rent or “imitation of a lightning flash” 
is necessary to obtain this nitrogen. 
These methods, and others which wili, 
no doubt, be worked out in the future, 
are to give a large share of our fertilizer 
nitrogen, but we must consider other 
forms in which this element is carried. 
Every time nitrogen is mentioned we 
should remember that all there is of it 
in the earth or in plants or animals came 
originally out of the air in -the form of 
a gas. It has been formed into solids 
or liquids by combining with other ma¬ 
terials, and its constant tendency is to 
go back to a gas and escape into the air. 
When we speak of a “carrier'’ of nitro¬ 
gen like nitrate of soda, blood, bone or 
clover hay, we mean a combination of 
substances which hold the nitrogen so it 
cannot get away from us until we are 
ready for it. 
"Sulphate of ammonia forms a good 
illustration of what we mean. Coal, 
w,ood and other fuel contain nitrogen. 
When the coal is burned or distilled as 
in gas-making, this nitrogen is driven 
off—part of it in the form of ammonia. 
This “ammonia” is one of the forms in 
which nitrogen is held by another gas, 
hydrogen. Nearly everyone can recog¬ 
nize the sharp smell of ammonia around 
stables or places where organic matter 
is decaying. Probably eight out of ten 
of the people who take The R. N.-Y. 
use “ammonia water” for washing and 
cleaning. Now from gas works and 
other places where coal is burned great 
quantities of this ammonia pass off into 
the air unless it is caught and saved. 
The fumes are washed—that is driven 
through water which holds the ammonia 
in solution. This solution, or gas liquid, 
is condensed by distilling off with sul¬ 
phuric acid. This makes a chemical com¬ 
bination which leaves solid crystals of 
sulphate of ammonia. Thus by going 
through this process we change the nitro¬ 
gen from the form of a gas, which is 
trying to get away from us, into a solid 
which may be put back on the soil and 
used as a fertilizer. If vou think this is 
a small thing you should realize that in 
Great Britain alone some 250,000 tons of 
sulphate of ammonia are made each 
year. This represents the nitrogen found 
in it).000.000 tons of average stable 
manure. Two things about this are of 
great importance. The nitrogen in the 
sulphate of ammonia is the same as that 
found in the original wood and coal. It 
has simply been put into a new form. 
Farmers sometimes say that chemical 
fertilizers are “artificial” and very dif¬ 
ferent from stable manures. As for the 
nitrogen in these chemicals, a little 
thought will show the close re¬ 
semblance between them. The wood 
and the coal both come from the 
growth of organic matter the same' 
as hay and grain. In both cases 
the nitrogen was put into them in the 
same way. When the coal is burned or 
distilled the gases are given off rapidly. 
When manure, resulting from eating 
fodder and grain, is left exposed or in 
a pile decay - or fermentation sets in. 
This is only a slower form of burning, 
fior in the end, if left alone, all the 
manure except the ashes would disap¬ 
pear. If we burned the manure, ran the 
fumes into water and then treated with 
sulphuric acid, we should have sulphate 
of ammonia the same as from the coal. 
It would not pay to do this, for only 
about 15 per cent of the nitrogen in the 
coal goes off as ammonia, but the point 
is, as we shall see again and again as we 
go on, that the nitrogen in the chemicals 
all comes originally from the same 
source as that in manures. 
The other great point about this is 
saving or catching this nitrogen. When¬ 
ever it is in an organic form, as soon as 
decay or burning starts, the nitrogen 
will begin to escape unless it is held by 
some chemical or something that holds 
it mechanically. In making sulphate of 
ammonia we see how first the water 
holds it for a time mechanically, and 
then the sulphuric acid holds it in a 
solid chemical. Now thousands of tons 
of nitrogen are lost each year from 
stables and manure piles because this es¬ 
caping ammonia, is not caught and held. 
What the manufacturer does on a 
large scale a farmer must try to 
do on a small scale. Swamp muck 
and bedding absorb and hold the stable 
liquids which contain most of the am¬ 
monia. When the heap containing the 
manure is kept moist, stamped hard and 
covered with earth or muck, the am¬ 
monia is held mechanically even better 
than the water holds it in the gasworks. 
Such substances as land plaster, kainit 
or acid phosphate will help hold the am¬ 
monia in chemical form. Tire sulphate 
of ammonia as sold for fertilizer con¬ 
tains about 20 per cent of nitrogen. We 
will next discuss nitrate of soda, then 
the organic forms of nitrogen, and try 
to explain their comparative value. 
FARMER’S SHARE OF BUCKWHEAT 
FLOUR. 
The R. N.-Y. says you nro paying 25 cents 
for seven pounds of buckwheat flour, and 
you wonder how much of it the farmer 
gets. Here it is: The miller pays the 
farmer from $1 to $1.20 per 100 pounds 
for his grain, and gets from 55 to 00 per 
cent of flour from l lie same. This flour 
will bring him about $2 per 100 pounds in 
the New York market, less ills freight and 
commission. From this you can easily see 
Hint the farmer does not gel a large share 
of the price you pay. nor does the miller: 
in fact, he gets hardly a living protit, and 
in many cases none at all. based on these 
prices, which you can readily verify. My 
observation is that the retailer wants about 
$1 per 100 pounds as his share of the deal, 
while the miller is fortunate if he gets 
25 cents as his share. mili.ek. 
New York. 
Referring to your query in regard to the 
farmer's portion of the price of buckwheat 
flour, we have paid an average of $1.25 
per hundred pounds for the grain. Our 
average yield of flour has been 52% pounds 
per hundred, so that the farmer has been 
getting an average of $2.38 per hundred 
for the flour. Sacks cost an average of 10 
cents per hundred pounds of flour, then the 
cost of tilling them and grinding the grain 
comes out of the middlings, which are our 
profit, as we are selling the flour at $2.50 
per hundred f. o. b. here in a wholesale 
way. According to tin- State chemist’s 
analysis, our middlings analyze protein 28.0!) 
per cent ; fat. 7.85 per cent, and fibre. 9.80 
per cent, making a very valuable feed. 
Pennsylvania. wm. lee. 
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A New Book on Fertility. 
The pressing problem which every farmer has to deal with is 
that of fertility or plant food. What is the “Yeast of the Soil” 
and how does lime and cultivation affect it? What is it in the soil 
that makes certain kinds of plant food productive while under 
other conditions it is non-productive? The number of such quest¬ 
ions constantly arising has led Mr. W. H. Bowker, President of 
this Company, to prepare a manual on “Plant Food, Its Sources, 
Preparation and Application.” In this book he compares manures 
and fertilizers and gives manure and green crops their rightful place. 
He discusses the so-called “bulk” of fertilizers and frankly tells 
how fertilizers are made. 
The New England Farmer says: “Mr. Bowker’s treatment of these subjects 
is fair to both manufacturer and user and his view a broad one. Pie is an auth¬ 
ority on the subject of the application of fertilizers, having been raised on a 
farm where fertilizers were used in the early 60’s, educated at the agricultural 
college where the chemistry of fertilizers was made his major study and for 37 
years engaged in the manufacture and sale of fertilizers, in twenty-two years 
of which he conducted an experimental farm.” 
The New England Homestead says: “It is clearly, plainly and frankly 
written”. Mr. Fullerton, Director of the Long Island Railroad Experimental 
Station says: “it is the best work I have read on the subject, stripped of 
technicalities and brought down to the understanding of the every day farmer.” 
It is a book for winter reading at a time when farm work is not 
pressing and we suggest that every farmer who reads this adver¬ 
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paper cover, free of charge. Price in cloth cover 25c. There is 
not a line of advertising in it. 
V: 
BOWKER 
FERTILIZER COMPANY, 
43 CHATHAM ST., BOSTON, MASS. 
