It is not common to look on the gases in the atmosphere in the light of manures, but they are decidedly so. Indeed, they are almost the only organic manure ever received by the uncultivated parts of the earth, as well as a large portion of that which is occupied in the production of food for man.
If these gases were not manures; if there were no means by which they could be used by plants, the fertility of the soil would long since have ceased, and the earth would now be in an unfertile condition. That this must be true, will be proved by a few moments' reflection on the facts stated in the first part of this book. The fertilizing gases in the atmosphere being composed of the constituents of decayed plants and animals, it is as necessary that they should be again returned to the form of organized matter, as it is that constituents taken from the soil should not be put out of existence.
AMMONIA.
How is ammonia used by plants?
How may it be carried to the soil?
How may the value of organic manures be estimated?
What effects has ammonia beside supplying food to plants?
The ammonia in the atmosphere probably cannot be appropriated by the leaves of plants, and must, therefore, enter the soil to be assimilated by roots. It reaches the soil in two ways. It is either arrested from the air circulating through the soil, or it is absorbed by rains in the atmosphere, and thus carried to the earth, where it is retained by clay and carbon, for the uses of plants. In the soil, ammonia is the most important of all organic manures. In fact, the value of organic manure may be estimated, either by the amount of ammonia which it will yield, or by its power of absorbing ammonia from other sources.
The most important action of ammonia in the soil is the supply of nitrogen to plants; but it has other offices which are of consequence. It assists in some of the chemical changes necessary to prepare the matters in the soil for assimilation. Some argue that ammonia stimulates the roots of plants, and causes them to take up increased quantities of inorganic matter. The discussion of this question would be out of place here, and we will simply say, that it gives them such vigor that they require increased amounts of ashy matter, and enables them to take this from the soil.
To how great a degree can the farmer control atmospheric fertilizers?