en
mixed with and divided by the soil, it gradually becomes available to
vegetation to as great an extent as the nitrogen of ordinary
fertilizers.

It appears from late examinations that weathered peat may contain
_nitric acid_ (compound of nitrogen with oxygen) in a proportion which,
though small, is yet of great importance, agriculturally speaking. What
analytical data we possess are subjoined.

PROPORTIONS OF NITROGEN, ETC., IN PEAT.
---------+-------------+------------+------------+---------+------------
| | | Total |Ammonia, |
| | Analyst. | Nitrogen. |per cent.|Nitric acid.
---------+-------------+------------+------------+---------+------------
1--Brown | | | | |
Peat|Air dry (?) |Boussingault| 2.20 | 0.018 | 0.000
2--Black | | | | |
Peat| " | " |Undetermined| 0.025 |Undetermined
3--Peat |Dried at 212 deg.|Reichardt[4]| " | 0.152 | 0.483
4--Peat | " | " | " | 0.165 | 0.525
5--Peat | " | " | " | 0.305 | 0.241
6--Peat | " | " | " | 0.335 | 0.421
---------+-------------+------------+------------+---------+------------

Specimens 3, 4 and 5, are swamp (or heath) mucks, and have been
weathered for use in flower-culture. 3 and 4 are alike, save that 3 has
been weathered a year longer than 4. They contain respectively 41, 56
and 67 _per cent._ of organic matter.

Sample 6, containing 86 _per cent._ of organic matter, is employed as a
manure with great advantage, and probably was weathered before analysis.
It contained 85 _per cent._ of organic substance.

More important to us than the circumstance that this peat contains but
little or no ammonia or nitric acid, and the other contains such or such
a fraction of one _per cent._ of these bodies, is the grand fact that
all peats may yield a good share of their nitrogen to the support of
crops, when properly treated and applied.

Under the influence of Liebig's teachings, which were logically based
upon the best data at the disposal of this distinguished philosopher
when he wrote 25 years ago, it has been believed that the nitrogen of a
fertilizer, in order to be available, must be converted into ammonia and
presented in that shape to the plant. It has been re