Chapter XXIII: 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
| | +--------+-------+Nitrogen
| Year. |Rainfall.| | | per
| | |Ammonia.| Nitric| acre.
| | | | Acid. |
----------------------+----------------+---------+--------+-------+--------
| | | | | lb.
Kuschen | 1864-65 | 11.85 | 0.54 | 0.16 | 1.86
" | 1865-66 | 17.70 | 0.44 | 0.16 | 2.50
Insterburg | 1864-65 | 27.55 | 0.55 | 0.30 | 5.49
" | 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
" | 1865-66 | 19.31 | 1.88 | 0.48 | 10.38
" | 1866-67 | 25.37 | 2.28 | 0.56 | 16.44
Ida-Marienhuette, 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
" | 1871 | 42.48 | 0.81 | 0.22 | 9.89
" | 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
" | 1878-79 | 25.79 | 1.20 | 0.70 | 11.16
" | 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 " | 0.068 | 1,629 | 0.082 | 2,313 3d 9 " | 0.059 | 1,461 | 0.053 | 1,580 4th 9 " | 0.051 | 1,228 | 0.046 | 1,412 5th 9 " | 0.045 | 1,090 | 0.042 | 1,301 6th 9 " | 0.044 | 1,131 | 0.039 | 1,186 | ----- | ----- | ----- | ----- Total, 54 inches | - | 9,554 | - | 13,143 |-----------+---------------+------------+-------------- 7th 9 inches | 0.042 | 1,049 | - | - 8th 9 " | 0.041 | 1,095 | - | - 9th 9 " | 0.044 | 1,173 | - | - 10th 9 " | 0.043 | 1,076 | - | - 11th 9 " | 0.043 | 1,112 | - | - 12th 9 " | 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 " | 0.109 | 0.169 | 0.327 | 0.264 3d " | 0.072 | 0.069 | 0.158 | 0.076 4th " | 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. | | | | +-------+--------+ Bokhara | | | White | After | After | clover, | Vetches,| Lucern, | clover, Depth. |fallow,|clover, | 1882. | 1883. | 1885. | 1885. | 1883. | 1883. | | | | -------------+-------+--------+---------+---------+---------+-------- | lb. | lb. | lb. | lb. | lb. | lb. 1st 9 inches| 3.4 | 6.1 | 3.4 | 10.2 | 8.9 | 11.5 2d 9 " | 3.1 | 4.4 | 1.0 | 2.7 | 1.1 | 1.4 3d 9 " | 0.8 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 0.9 4th 9 " | 1.0 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 1.9 5th 9 " | 0.8 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 2.5 | 1.0 | 7.1 6th 9 " | 0.6 | 0.8 | 1.7 | 4.4 | 0.9 | 11.3 7th 9 " | 0.8 | 2.2 | | 4.5 | 0.6 | 13.1 8th 9 " | 0.9 | 1.7 | | 4.9 | 0.8 | 12.6 9th 9 " | 0.7 | 2.4 | | 4.8 | 0.7 | 11.2 10th 9 " | 2.0 | 2.1 | | 5.1 | 0.6 | 10.7 11th 9 " | 1.5 | 2.1 | | 6.4 | 0.4 | 11.1 12th 9 " | 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 | | | | | |over Plot| Manuring. |1st 9 |2nd 9 |3rd 9 |Total 27|plots | |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 | " 30 " | 9.2 | 4.0 | 1.8 | 15.0 | 16a | " 17 " | 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 | " " 1 year | 10.3 | 7.5 | 3.4 | 21.2 | 4.8 6a | " and ammonium salts, 200 lb. | 16.5 | 7.5 | 4.7 | 28.7 | 12.3 7a | " " 400 " | 22.8 | 11.3 | 5.7 | 39.8 | 23.4 8a | " " 600 " | 21.1 | 13.9 | 7.8 | 42.8 | 26.4 9a |Ash and sodium nitrate, 550 " | 19.7 | 10.0 | 8.2 | 37.9 | 21.5 9b |Sodium nitrate, " " | 16.3 | 20.1 | 17.7 | 54.1 | 37.7 10a |Ammonium salts, 400 " | 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--38 years| 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_).

-------+------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------- | | | | | Total | Excess | | 1st 9 | 2d 9 | 3d 9 | 27 | over Plot. | Manuring. |inches.|inches.|inches.|inches.|plot 10. -------+------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------- | | lb. | lb. | lb. | lb. | lb. 10 |No manure | 5.9 | 4.7 | 5.1 | 15.7 | - 20-40 |Ash constituents (mean) | 6.7 | 7.0 | 6.4 | 20.1 | 4.4 1 A |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 1 AA |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 Plot.| Manures per acre, | per acre. | of soil. | annually applied, +-------+--------+------+-----+--------- | 16 years, 1865-81. | | | | | Gain or | |Dressed| Total |1865. |1881.| loss in | |grain. |produce.| | |16 years. -----+----------------------------------+-------+--------+------+-----+--------- | | bush. | lb. | lb. | lb. | lb. 3 |Unmanured |11-7/8 | 1715 | 2507 |2404 | -103 5_a_|Mixed mineral manure |12-3/4 | 1963 | 2574 |2328 | -246 10_a_|Ammonium salts, 400 lb. |17-7/8 | 2881 | 2548 |2471 | -77 11_1_|Ammonium salts, with | | | | | | superphosphate |23-1/4 | 3856 | 2693 |2676 | -17 7_a_|Ammonium salts, with mixed mineral| | | | | | manure | 28 | 4993 | 2829 |2908 | +79 9_a_|Nitrate of soda, 550 lb., and | | | | | | mixed mineral manure | 36 | 6949 | 2834 |2883 | +49 16_a_|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).

$1$2

--------------+--------+-----------------+---------------------------------- | | | Nitrogen as nitrates. | | +-----------------+---------------- | | Amount of | Per million of | Per acre. |Rainfall| drainage. | water. | | +--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+------- | |20-inch |60-inch |20-inch |60-inch |20-inch |60-inch | |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 --------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+-------