What effect has clay besides the one already named?
How does it compare with charcoal for this purpose?
The offices performed by the inorganic constituents of the soil are many and important.
These, as well as the different conditions in which the bodies exist, are necessary to be thoroughly studied.
Those parts which constitute the larger proportion of the soil, namely the clay, sand, and limy portions, are useful for purposes which have been named in the first part of this section, while the clay has an additional effect in the absorption of ammonia.
For this purpose, it is as effectual as charcoal, the gases escaping from manures, as well as those existing in the atmosphere, and in rain-water, being arrested by clay as well as charcoal.[T]
What particular condition of inorganic matter is requisite for fertility?
What is the fixed rule with regard to this?
What is the condition of the alkalies in most of their combinations? Of the acids?
What is said of phosphate of lime?