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July the plants in them were double in height 
to those of the other series, and the diameter of 
the stems was two-thirds thicker. By the 25th 
of August the proportion had diminished ; the 
height of the plants watered by the phosphate 
was then only one-third greater, and the size of 
the stems double. At the moment of their com- 
ing to maturity, the phosphated plants bore two 
sound ears, and one that had failed to come to 
maturity; the other plants had only two ears 
each—viz.: one complete, and one that had 
failed. This was not all; each grain of the ears 
of the phosphated plants was double in weight 
to that of the non-phosphated plants. M. Bous- 
singault concludes, therefore, and with great rea- 
son, that the salt in question may be used with 
great advantage as an artificial manure. 
Diluted ammoniacal water, in the proportion 
of an ounce of the liquor ammoniz of the shops 
to a pint of rain or river water, has of late years 
been successfully employed for checking the ve- 
getative power of potatoes, and prolonging their 
suitableness for food. Potatoes immersed during 
four or five days in this liquid, retain all their 
edible properties unimpaired throughout a twelve- 
month; they suffer no apparent effects except the 
desirable ones of postponed vegetation and im- 
proved appearance, flavour, and mealiness; and 
they so completely lose by volatilization all the 
ammonia which they absorbed, that the most 
fastidious person could not detect the fact of its 
ever having been present. The action of the 
liquid upon them makes no chemical change on 
their composition, but merely consolidates their 
substance and extracts their moisture. The po- 
tatoes, immediately after their immersion, require 
to be spread in an airy place to dry; and pota- 
toes so used, and after being kept ten months in 
a warm kitchen closet, have been found perfectly 
good. This easy and cheap process is of great 
value for the exportation of potatoes to the tro- 
pics, for adding to the comforts and the healthful 
diet of seamen, and for providing private stocks 
of fine edible potatoes for the use of families dur- 
ing the scarce season from March till July. Im- 
mersion in a strong solution of salt and water 
produces exactly the same effects, but requires 
to be followed by frequent washings and steep- 
ings in order to the removal of the whole of the 
salt. If potatoes immersed in diluted ammonia- 
cal water be not removed at the end of five days, 
but allowed to remain in the solution during 
three weeks, they are tough and shrivelled when 
removed, and assume a totally new character 
when dried,—much consolidated in bulk, greatly 
deprived of their natural properties, and, when 
boiled, assuming the appearance of sago or starch, 
but, when used dry and uncooked, having the 
flavour of meal and some of the apparent proper- 
ties of corn. 
Ammonia water kills animals of all kinds, and 
has recently been found very serviceable for de- 
stroying slugs in fields, vermin in store-houses, 
AMMONIA. 
and insects in hot-houses. When used for de- 
stroying rats, it is far superior to traps, and needs ~ 
only to be applied to the rats’ holes; and when 
used for destroying insects, it is at once cheaper, 
more effective, and much easier of application 
than tobacco or other established remedies, but 
requires to be so treated as to give out its am- 
monia in the form of a gas. A hole large enough 
to admit the pipe of a watering-pot is to be made 
near the bottom of one of the doors of the hot- 
house; a watering-pot, containing a quantity of 
ammonia water, is to be placed aslant, and to 
have its pipe inserted in this hole; a small quan- 
tity of turf, wood, or coal is to be kindled under 
the watering-pot; and the ammoniacal gas will 
become disengaged from the water, and diffuse 
itself through the house. If the quantity of gas 
introduced to the house do not exceed in volume 
one-fifth of the whole cubic space which the house 
comprises, it will inflict no injury on even the 
most delicate stove or conservatory plant, and, | 
in less than fifteen minutes it will kill every 
plant-louse and every mealy bug within the walls; 
but at the end of fifteen minutes, it ought to be 
drawn off from the house by the opening of the 
ventilators; and if it be needed for the destruc- 
tion of the scaly bug, it must be applied from the 
tube of a retort, or other fit vessel, to the part of 
the plant affected. Ammoniacal gas, it is obvi- 
ous, might be used to destroy flies and moths in 
the farm-house; and ammonia water might be 
employed to sweep away a large proportion of 
vermin from the farmery. Among the most re- 
cent applications of ammonia is that for prevent- 
ing incrustation on steam-boilers, first suggested 
by Dr. Ritterbandt, who uses the chloride of 
ammonium for this purpose. This substance does 
not discolour the water, nor communicate to it 
any unpleasant taste or smell; it has no injuri- 
ous effect upon the metal of the boiler; it does 
not increase the density of the water, and there- 
fore does not produce ‘priming; nor does its 
application involve any alteration in the boilers 
now in general use. The action of the chloride 
of ammonium is to change the carbonate of lime 
into chloride of calcium, which is not deposited 
by heat ; and as the crystallization of other salts, 
such as the sulphate of lime, depends in a great 
measure upon contact, the absence of nuclei of 
solid carbonate prevents, in a great measure, their 
formation. In marine boilers this is very evi- 
dent, for after adding chloride of ammonium, and 
thus preventing the precipitation of insoluble 
carbonate of lime, it is almost impossible to ob- 
tain crystals of common salt; thus ‘ blowing off? 
is rendered almost unnecessary. 
Ammonia, in several forms and in numerous 
compounds, is somewhat extensively used in hu- 
man medicine; but it is both sparingly and rather 
doubtingly used in veterinary practice. In the 
form of aromatic spirit of ammonia, in doses of 
from one ounce to two ounces, and in a simple 
menstruum of warm water, it has, in cases of flat- 
