BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 401 
The results obtained from the anthracites and from the soils are 
shown in detail in the following tables. 
Recapitulation of the Experiments on An- Knop and Wolf’s Experunents on Soils. 
thracite, } Ammonia, 
No. of the Ammonia, Kind of Soil. per cent 
Experiment. per cent. in dry soil. 
peak, 2 aS 0.00217 | Very poor, light, sandy svil . 0.00077 
I... . . . . ~ . 0.00080 | Soil rich in humus from a 
WW. 2. ww we . 0.00566 beech wood . . . . . . 0.00087 
IV... ... . . « «0.00045 | Sandy loam from hard-wood 
Reger who). . » '..0.00050 forcast as iyi te) t.'y 74.:0.00012 
VL... . . « « « « 0.00020 | Mould from forest on bank of 
Mets ees) ss. 6 - «0.00150 river Elster. . . . . . 0.00080 
Peete ew Alte 447 ©» «0.00022 Poor, red, sandy loam from a 
Mee ss sre. >, + | 0.00088 ploughed field . . . . . 0.00017 
cis iw vs» « 0,00040 # 
Se... « . « » 0.00018 Average ee ee A as 
Baereees srs... 6. 0.00020 
REET ys Yallic i. = os», « 0.00410 
See se, «es. 0.00055 
- The experiments recorded in this article were undertaken, in the 
first place, for the purpose of finding the source of the nitrogen in a 
certain sample of anthracite ashes, which were found to be capable of 
supplying plants, in some way, with a small amount of nitrogenous 
food, as has been fully explained on page 62 of this Bulletin. Since 
the ashes in question were known to contain many fragments of un- 
burnt anthracite which had fallen through the grate-bars of the shallow 
furnace whence they came, it was thought that possibly some part of 
the inert nitrogen proper to the coal might have been converted to a 
nitrate by the action of air and moisture upon these unburnt fragments 
in the pots where the plants were grown. But, on proceeding to test 
this idea by exposing washed fragments of anthracite to the air, so 
much ammonia was at once detected in the first washings from the 
coal, that the proposed experiment was abandoned in favor of the tests 
which have been recorded above. 
The proved presence of ammonia in the anthracite fragments ex- 
plains, of course, where the plants of page 62 got their small supply 
of nitrogen; and on testing anew, in the light of the experience that 
has just been related, some ashes similar to those used in the experi- 
ments of page 62, an appreciable amount of ammonia was found in* 
them, especially in a sample that contained a large proportion of the 
unburnt fragments of anthracite. 
VOL. I. 51 
