The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1880-08-02
AGRICULTURAL.
About Alkaliaa

There are substances which, when united
with other substances, 90 to form many
compounds. There are several of them,
but those of more special importance in ag-
rlculture are potash, soda and ammonia.
The TWO former are called fixed alkalies,
and the latter volatile. OF the various COM
pounds which they help to form, the aka
lies aae called the bases. United with oils
they form soaps; with carbonic acid they
form the carbonates, with sulphuric acid
the sulphates, with nitric acid the nitrates
etc. In early times, the term alkali was applied
to the substances obtained from the ashes
of certain kinds of sea-weeds and from the
ashes of wood, and the substances formed
by the union of alkalies with acids were
called salts. In making potash the ashes
were collected in pottsand leached al from
this process it was given the name of pot
ash. Soda was then obtained only from sea
plants such as barilla, etc.. and in the old
books the substance in an impure state was
called barilla. Ammonia was found in
combination with other substances near the
temple of Jupiter Ammon, and being OBJ
tanned, sometimes, from the horns of the
hart or deer it was called hartshorn, a
name by which it is still known among nom
professionals.
In their chemical action, soda and potash
are very much alike. though they are dis
tinct substances. United with oil, potash
makes. soft soap, and soda hard. The best
CASTLE soap is made of soda and the oil of
olives; it is the purest and best soap made.
United with carbonic acid and we have the
carbonate of potash and the carbonate of
soda. They resemble each other in appear
ance, and as medicine, both of which are
SO used, their action is the some. The car
Donate of ammonia, on the other hand,
though it is white like the others, is readily
distinguishable from them by the difference
in looks and touch, and by its pungent odor,
and its action as medicine is entirely diff
erent. There is another common substance
which has alkaline properties in certain
degree and which is as important in agricul-
ture as either of the others. We refer to
lime. 1t unites with oil and forms a soap
though different from that formed by either
of the others, and unites readily with acids.
1t enters so largely into the formation of
the earth that it is called an alkaline earth.
When sulphuric acid unites with potash the
compound is called sulphate of potash, a
substance used but little saws as medicine;
union of the same acid with soda. forms
the sulphate of soda, or salts, q substance
formerly much used in domestic med icine
with ammonia this acid forms sulphate
entirely different from the other two and of
but little value, and with lime it forms one
OF our most valuable fertilizers generally
better known as plaster of Paris.
In the nourishment and growth of plants,
these four substances perform a very impor-
tant part. Ammonia composed vi hydrogen
and nitrogen, furnishes to plants that nitro
gen which is an important constituent of
those tissues and fluids which contain albu-
men, commonly known as azotized or nitro
genous tissues. The chief sources of sup
ply of ammonia for agricultural purposes, is
the urine and dung of animals Lime EN-
tiers largely into the composition of the
stalk and seed of all the cereals, and is in
dispensable to their full development 1t is
mostly obtained for agricultural purposes.
from bones which must first be dissolved in
some acid. Bone meal or -four sown broad
cast upon the field, will be slowly dissolved
by the acids of the soil and thus be made
available to plants. Potash and soda also
enter largely into the composition of plants,
forming large per cent of the ashes left
after their combustion. Both exist natural
ly in the soil and are supplied by the appli-
cation OF wood ashes. The chemical effort of
these alkalies is also important. They neu-
ralize the excess of acids which sometimes
exists in the soil rendering it sour and cold
and unproductive The application of I'M
Stacked lime in the form of the carbonate, or
OF unslacked ashes to swamp muck has a
wonderful effect, sweetening it and causing
1t to pulverize, and preparing it to give a
luxurious growth and support to vegetation.
The sulphate of lime or common plaster
aids agriculture in various ways; it neutral
ICES acids, unites with other substances in
forming plant food and performs an impor-
tant part in unlocking for the use of plants
those .nutritive principles which had hith
erto lain dormant.-Maine Farmer