Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-01-08
NITROGEN.
Its Effects Alphabetically Considered-.A
Subject of Interest to Thinking Farm

Nitrogen figures very prominently
just now in the discussion of agricul-
tural matters, and, for the proper un-
derstanding of what is said about it, it
is necessary to understand what it is.
1t is the most abundant substance in ma
turc. forming two-thirds of the weight
OF the atmosphere and one-sixth of tho
weight of what is known as the a!bumi-
nous or heterogeneous portion of all or
ganic matter. And a very curious fact
in regard to it is that although it enters
thus largely into the substance of all or
ganic matter, yet no one knows how it
enters into this combination, and it is in
regard to this questionable behavior that
the present discussion referred to arises,
the question being: Do plants derive
their nitrogen from the atmosphere di-
in the soil? And a vast amount of
study and experiment has been expend-
ed upon the investi CATION for many
years year. without u any seeming progress to-
most elaborate and careful series of ex-
perimcnts for eighty years past without
intermission, and who knows moro
about the matter than any other man,
orit may be said truly, than all other
men, sums up the present state of tho
question as follows: although there
are difficulties in either case to be got
over whether we attempt to account for
the nitrogen of plants having it's source
in the atmosphere or in the soil, still
it appears to me that there arc more
difficulties in forming a rational
theory on the former supposition than
on the latter. Theories, however, are
of very little use in Il question of
this kind. What is really required are
nor facts, and, unfortunately, these
are only accumulated by very slow and
laborious processes" And we may add
that almost all the facts which appertain
to this discussion are those which have
been gathered by DR.. Lawcs and his
able and patient assistants.
We do not propose to discuss this
question at all this time, believing it to
be of little use and a waste of time and
labor, but only to state what nitrogen is
and what its common combinations are,
as a basis upon which our readers may
form their own opinions, or a judg-
mcnt upon what he may hear or read
upon the main question.
Nitrogen is one of the gases of which
the air consists. and it forms, as we have
said, two-thirds Of the weight of it.
Curiously it is only mixed with the
oxygen and is not combined with it. and
simply dilutes the more active and pow
crful oxygen as II might mix two
parts of water with one part of milk for
the humane and profitable purpose, and
making this substance less dangerous to
bilious persons and more productive to
the milkman. Oxygen alone would be
to animal life like q blast to a furnace,
and would cause it to consume itself
with excessive rapidity, Just as it causes
a dull spark in charcoal to glow with
great brilliance, and burn the COM
bustible to ashes in a very short time, so
that the nitrogen mixed with the oxygen
renders the atmosphere fit to support
life comfortably. 1t is q simple sub
stance, by which it is meant that it is
not made up of two or more substances
combined, and that it has been found
impossible to change it by analysis or
any chemical process into anything else
than itself by taking anything away from
it. 1t is totally inert, and has no effect
whatever upon any other substance
in its free state; it can not sup-
port life, and so far as is known is
wholly inactive until it is brought by
some means OF other into chemical COM
bination with other substances. 1t COM
bines with oxygen and then forms nj
trous oxide and with more oxygen it be-
comes nitric acid, a most powerfully
corrosive substance, the %aquafortis of
the old chemists. This combination is
formed by the passage of an electric
spark or a flash of lightning through
the atmosphere. and the nitric acid thus
produced explains the frequently noticed
effect of a thunder shower upon vegeta-
ton, which shows q vivid grecnncss
soon after having been thus watercd.
1t also combines with hydrogen and
then forms ammonia, which is a pun
gent gas, so we'll known when dissolved
in water as the aqua ammonia, or am
media water of the druggists. Ammonia
is changed into nitric acid by combina-
ton with oxygen and the loss of the hy-
drogen. Nitric acid combines with all
the alkalies. as lime, potash, soda, etc.,
and with all the metals, excepting gold,
which is only acted upon by u mixture
of nitric and hydro-chloric acids. When
therefore nitric acid-or, as it is sud-
posed, ammonia-becomes mingled in
any way with the soil it combines with
the lime, potash or soda contained in it,
or it is dissolved in the water and then
becomes available for absorption by
plants, and in these forms only, it
is supposed, is nitrogen taken up
by plants and made part of their SUBJ
stance. The heterogeneous part of plants
consists of albumen and legumin; the
latter is almost identical with albumen,
but it is found only in u class of plants
known as the leguminosa, to which
peas, beans, clover, the locust tree, and
other food-bearing plants belong; the
nitrogen in animal substance is found
chiefly in the fibrin of blood and flesh.
the caseine of milk. the white or alb1-
men of eggs, and some other chemically
related substances, and about one-sixth
part by weight, of these substances con-
sists of nitrogen. The legnminosa are
especially rich in heterogeneous matters,
and for this reason clover is regarded