Part 2 — APPENDIX TO CHAPTER III.

NOTE I. (p. 119).

Determinations of the Quantity of Nitrogen supplied by Rain, as Ammonia and Nitric Acid, to an Acre of Land, during One Year.

(From Dr Fream's 'Soils and their Properties,' p. 62.)

Nitrogen per

million, as Total

Nitric Nitrogen

Year. Rainfall. Ammonia. Acid. per acre.

lb.

Kuschen 1864-65 11.85 0.54 0.16 1.86

Kuschen 1865-66 17.70 0.44 0.16 2.50

Insterburg 1864-65 27.55 0.55 0.30 5.49

Insterburg 1865-66 23.79 0.76 0.49 6.81

Dahme 1865 17.09 1.42 0.30 6.66

Regenwalde 1864-65 23.48 2.03 0.80 15.09

Regenwalde 1865-66 19.31 1.88 0.48 10.38

Regenwalde 1866-67 25.37 2.28 0.56 16.44

Ida-Marienhütte,

mean of six years 1865-70 22.65 — — 9.92

Proskau 1864-65 17.81 3.21 1.73 20.91

Florence 1870 36.55 1.17 0.44 13.36

Florence 1871 42.48 0.81 0.22 9.89

Florence 1872 50.82 0.82 0.26 12.51

Vallombrosa 1872 79.83 0.42 0.15 10.38

Montsouris, Paris 1877-78 23.62 1.91 0.24 11.54

Montsouris, Paris 1878-79 25.79 1.20 0.70 11.16

Montsouris, Paris 1879-80 15.70 1.36 1.60 10.52

Mean of

22 years 27.63 — — 10.23

NOTE II. (p. 122).

Nitrogen in Soils at Various Depths.

(1) Rothamsted Soils.

Depth. Arable soil. Old pasture soil.

per cent. lb. per acre. per cent. lb. per acre.

1st 9 inches 0.120 3,015 0.245 5,351

2d 9 inches 0.068 1,629 0.082 2,313

3d 9 inches 0.059 1,461 0.053 1,580

4th 9 inches 0.051 1,228 0.046 1,412

5th 9 inches 0.045 1,090 0.042 1,301

6th 9 inches 0.044 1,131 0.039 1,186

Total, 54 inches — 9,554 — 13,143

7th 9 inches 0.042 1,049 — —

8th 9 inches 0.041 1,095 — —

9th 9 inches 0.044 1,173 — —

10th 9 inches 0.043 1,076 — —

11th 9 inches 0.043 1,112 — —

12th 9 inches 0.045 1,198 — —

Total, 9 feet — 16,257 — —

(2) Manitoba Soils.

Depth. Brandon. Niverville. Winnipeg. Selkirk.

per cent. per cent. per cent. per cent.

1st foot 0.187 0.261 0.428 0.618

2d foot 0.109 0.169 0.327 0.264

3d foot 0.072 0.069 0.158 0.076

4th foot 0.019 0.038 0.107 0.042

NOTE III. (p. 130).

Nitrogen as Nitrates in Cropped Soils receiving no Nitrogenous Manure, in Lb. per Acre (Rothamsted Soils).

Wheat.

After After Bokhara White

fallow, clover, clover, Vetches, Lucern, clover,

Depth. 1883. 1883. 1882. 1883. 1885. 1885.

lb. lb. lb. lb. lb. lb.

1st 9 inches 3.4 6.1 3.4 10.2 8.9 11.5

2d 9 inches 3.1 4.4 1.0 2.7 1.1 1.4

3d 9 inches 0.8 1.6 0.6 1.1 0.8 0.9

4th 9 inches 1.0 1.3 1.0 1.5 0.8 1.9

5th 9 inches 0.8 1.5 0.8 2.5 1.0 7.1

6th 9 inches 0.6 0.8 1.7 4.4 0.9 11.3

7th 9 inches 0.8 2.2 — 4.5 0.6 13.1

8th 9 inches 0.9 1.7 — 4.9 0.8 12.6

9th 9 inches 0.7 2.4 — 4.8 0.7 11.2

10th 9 inches 2.0 2.1 — 5.1 0.6 10.7

11th 9 inches 1.5 2.1 — 6.4 0.4 11.1

12th 9 inches 3.8 2.8 — 6.5 0.4 10.0

NOTE IV. (p. 124 and p. 131).

Nitrogen as Nitrates in Wheat-soils variously manured, October 1881, in Lb. per Acre (Rothamsted Soils).

Excess

Total over

1st 9 2nd 9 3rd 9 27 plots

Plot. Manuring. inches. inches. inches. inches. 3 and 4.

lb. lb. lb. lb. lb.

3 No manure, 38 years 9.7 5.3 2.8 17.8 —

4 No manure, 30 years 9.2 4.0 1.8 15.0 —

16a No manure, 17 years 10.6 5.0 2.3 17.9 1.5

5a Ash constituents, 30 years 12.6 7.1 4.6 24.3 7.9

17a Ash constituents, 1 year 10.3 7.5 3.4 21.2 4.8

6a Ash and ammonium salts, 200 lb. 16.5 7.5 4.7 28.7 12.3

7a Ash and ammonium salts, 400 lb. 22.8 11.3 5.7 39.8 23.4

8a Ash and ammonium salts, 600 lb. 21.1 13.9 7.8 42.8 26.4

9a Ash and sodium nitrate, 550 lb. 19.7 10.0 8.2 37.9 21.5

9b Sodium nitrate, 550 lb. 16.3 20.1 17.7 54.1 37.7

10a Ammonium salts, 400 lb. 14.2 11.9 7.3 33.4 17.0

11a Superphosphate and ammonium salts, 400 lb. 17.9 9.3 3.6 30.8 14.4

19 Rape-cake, 1700 lb. 14.1 13.0 7.1 34.2 17.8

2 Farmyard manure, 14 tons—38years 30.0 15.4 6.8 52.2 35.8

Nitrogen as Nitrates in Barley-soils variously manured, March 1892, in Lb. per Acre (Rothamsted Soils).

Excess

Total over

1st 9 2d 9 3d 9 27 plot

Plot. Manuring. inches. inches. inches. inches. 10

lb. lb. lb. lb. lb.

10 No manure 5.9 4.7 5.1 15.1 —

20-40 Ash constituents (mean) 6.7 7.0 6.4 20.1 4.4

1A Ammonium salts, 200 lb. 6.1 8.3 7.0 21.4 5.7

2A-4A Ammonium and ash constituents (mean) 7.7 7.8 7.6 23.1 7.4

1AA Sodium nitrate, 275 lb. 9.7 6.8 9.0 25.5 9.8

2AA-4AA Sodium nitrate and ash constituents (mean) 8.3 7.4 7.5 23.2 7.5

1C Rape-cake, 1000 lb. 10.6 13.7 7.9 32.2 16.5

2C-4C Rape-cake and ash constituents (mean) 8.8 11.9 8.7 29.4 13.7

7-1 No manure, 10 years—formerly dung 14.8 11.8 10.9 37.5 21.8

7-2 Farmyard manure, 14 tons 18.6 14.6 10.9 44.1 28.4

NOTE V. (p. 134).

Examples of Increase of Nitrogen in Rothamsted Soils laid down in Pasture.

Age of Nitrogen in

pasture. 1st 9 inches.

Years. Per cent.

Arable land — 0.140

Barn-field pasture 8 0.151

Apple-tree pasture 18 0.174

Dr Gilbert's meadow 21 0.204

Dr Gilbert's meadow 30 0.241

NOTE VI. (p. 141).

In connection with the loss by drainage of nitrogen in the form of nitrates, it may be mentioned that the water of many of the famous rivers contains large quantities of nitrates. Thus the water of the Seine has been found to contain fifteen parts of nitrates per million of water, and the Rhine eight parts per million. Some idea of what this amounts to per annum may be obtained by the statement that "the Rhine discharges daily 220 tons of saltpetre into the ocean, the river Seine 270, and the Nile 1100 tons."—(Storer's Agric. Chem., vol. i. p. 318.)

NOTE VII. (p. 142).

Examples of Decrease of Nitrogen in Rothamsted Soils.

Nitrogen in

1st 9 inches.

Per cent.

Old pasture 0.250

Arable land in ordinary culture 0.140

Wheat unmanured, 38 years 0.105

Wheat and fallow unmanured, 31 years 0.096

Barley unmanured, 30 years 0.093

Turnips unmanured, 25 years 0.085

Manuring, Produce of Wheat, and Alteration in the Composition of the Soil in Broadbalk Field, Rothamsted, from 1865 to 1881.

Average Nitrogen per acre

produce in 1st 9 inches

per acre. of soil.

Gain or

Manures per acre, annually Dressed Total loss in

Plot. applied, 16 years, 1865-81. grain. produce. 1865. 1881. 16 years.

bush. lb. lb. lb. lb.

3 Unmanured 11-7/8 1715 2507 2404 - 103

5a Mixed mineral manure 12-3/4 1963 2574 2328 - 246

10a Ammonium salts, 400 lb. 17-7/8 2881 2548 2471 - 77

11a Ammonium salts, with superphosphate 23-1/4 3856 2693 2676 - 17

7a Ammonium salts, with mixed mineral manure 28 4993 2829 2908 + 79

9a Nitrate of soda, 550 lb., and mixed mineral manure 36 6949 2834 2883 + 49

16a Unmanured* 13-1/2 2194 2907 2557 - 350

2 Farmyard manure, 14 tons 31-1/2 5356 4329 4502 + 173

* During 1852-64 received annually ammonium salts, 800 lb., with mixed mineral manure, and yielded an average product of 39-1/2 bushels of grain and 46-5/8 cwt. of straw.

NOTE VIII. (p. 141).

Amount of Drainage and Nitrogen as Nitrates in Drainage-water from unmanured Bare Soil, 20 and 60 inches deep—average of Thirteen Years.

Nitrogen per acre

Amount of Per million

drainage of water Per acre.

20-inch 60-inch 20-inch 60-inch 20-inch 60-inch

Rainfall. gauge. gauge. gauge. gauge. gauge. gauge.

Inches. Inches. Inches. lb. lb.

March 1.70 0.85 0.94 7.3 8.9 1.41 1.89

April 2.25 0.72 0.79 8.3 9.0 1.35 1.61

May 2.48 0.80 0.79 8.4 9.1 1.53 1.63

June 2.59 0.78 0.78 9.2 9.1 1.62 1.60

July 2.85 0.68 0.62 13.5 11.8 2.08 1.66

August 2.69 0.84 0.76 15.1 13.3 2.87 2.28

September 2.70 0.97 0.82 17.7 13.4 3.86 2.50

October 3.12 1.86 1.68 13.8 11.9 5.83 4.53

November 3.20 2.44 2.32 11.8 11.4 6.50 5.98

December 2.34 1.88 1.88 9.5 10.6 4.06 4.51

January 2.13 1.79 1.93 7.4 8.9 2.99 3.88

February 2.16 1.84 1.74 7.7 9.1 3.19 3.57

March-June 9.02 3.15 3.30 8.3 9.0 5.91 6.73

July-September 8.24 2.49 2.20 15.6 13.0 8.81 6.44

October-Feb. 12.95 9.81 9.55 10.2 10.4 22.57 22.47

Whole year 30.21 15.45 15.05 10.7 10.5 37.29 35.64