Elements of agricultural chemistry and geology

by Jas. F. W. Johnston

The gaseous ammonia consists of nitrogen and hydrogen only, in the proportion of 14 of the former to 3 of the latter, or 17 lbs. of ammonia contain 3 lbs. of hydrogen.

The chief natural source of this compound is, in the decay of animal substances. During the putrefaction of dead animal bodies ammonia is invariably given off. From the animal substances of the farm-yard it is evolved, and from all solid and liquid manures of animal origin. It is also formed in lesser quantity during the decay of vegetable substances in the soil; and in volcanic countries, it escapes from many of the hot lavas, and from the crevices in the heated rocks.

It is produced artificially by the distillation of animal substances (hoofs, horns, &c.), or of coal. Thousands of tons of the ammonia present in the ammoniacal liquors of the gas-works, which might be beneficially applied as a manure, are annually carried down by the rivers, and lost in the sea.

The ammonia which is given off during the putrefaction of animal substances rises partially into the air, and floats in the atmosphere, till it is either decomposed by natural causes, or is washed down by the rains. In our climate, cultivated plants derive a considerable portion of their nitrogen from ammonia. It is supposed to be one of the most valuable fertilizing substances contained in farm-yard manure; and as it is present in greater proportion by far in the liquid than in the solid contents of the farm-yard, there can be no doubt that much real wealth is lost, and the means of raising increased crops thrown away in the quantities of liquid manure which are almost everywhere permitted to run to waste.

3. Nitric Acid—is a powerfully corrosive liquid known in the shops by the familiar name of aquafortis. It is prepared by pouring oil of vitriol (sulphuric acid) upon saltpetre, and distilling the mixture. The aquafortis of the shops is a mixture of the pure acid with water.

Pure nitric acid consists of nitrogen and oxygen only; the union of these two gases, so harmless in the air, producing the burning and corrosive compound which this is known to be.

It never reaches the roots of plants in this free and corrosive state. It exists in many soils, and is naturally formed in compost heaps, and in most situations where vegetable matter is undergoing decay in contact with the air; but it is always in a state of chemical combination in these cases. With potash, it forms nitrate of potash (saltpetre); with soda, nitrate of soda; and with lime, nitrate of lime; and it is generally in one or other of these states of combination that it reaches the roots of plants.

Nitric acid is also naturally formed, and in some countries probably in large quantities, by the passage of electricity through the atmosphere. The air, as has been already stated, contains much oxygen and nitrogen mixed together, but when an electric spark is passed through a quantity of air, a certain quantity of the two unite together chemically, so that every spark that passes forms a small portion of nitric acid. A flash of lightning is only a large electric spark; and hence every flash that crosses the air produces along its path a quantity of this acid. Where thunder-storms are frequent, much nitric acid must be produced in this way in the air. It is washed down by the rains, in which it has frequently been detected, and thus reaches the soil, where it produces one or other of the nitrates above mentioned.

It has been long observed that those parts of India are the most fertile in which saltpetre exists in the soil in the greatest abundance. Nitrate of soda, also, in this country, has been found wonderfully to promote vegetation in many localities; and it is a matter of frequent remark, that vegetation seems to be refreshed and invigorated by the fall of a thunder-shower. There is, therefore, no reason to doubt that nitric acid is really beneficial to the general vegetation of the globe. And since vegetation is most luxuriant in those parts of the globe where thunder or lightning are most abundant, it would appear as if the natural production of this compound body in the air, to be afterwards brought to the earth by the rains, were a wise and beneficent contrivance by which the health and vigour of universal vegetation is intended to be promoted.

It is from this nitric acid, thus universally produced and existing, that plants appear to derive a large—probably, taking vegetation in general, the largest—portion of their nitrogen. In all climates they also derive a portion of this element from ammonia; but less from this source in tropical than in temperate climates.[3]