No. 164.

Contents.

Nitrogen: Its Uses and Sources in Agriculture

22

PAGE

PAGE

17

Permanent Chemical Exhibition

18

The Liverpool Colour Market. Miscellaneous Chemical Market Report on Manure Material

22

22

West of Scotland Chemicals.

22

Determining Free Acids in Oils...

The Air Moistening of Mills and

The Tyne Chemical Report.

23

The Metal Markets

23

23

21

Exports

25

Prices Current.

28

21

Patent List

Gazette Notices

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Advertisements intended for insertion in the current week's issue, should reach the office by Wednesday morning at the latest.

Vol. VII.

"NITROGEN: ITS USES AND SOURCES IN 99* AGRICULTURE."

THIS

HIS little booklet has much to recommend it to the notice of the Trade. It consists of a collection of valuable statistics concerning the nitrogenous manure trade, and contains in addition some useful information as to the sources of gain and loss of nitrogen in agriculture. Considering the absolute necessity of nitrogenous vegetable matters to the life of animals, and the ever-increasing population, which must be fed on a proportionately ever-decreasing vegetation, the problem as to whether we are properly husbanding the world's supply of available nitrogen is of an importance which cannot be over-rated.

For the last fifty years it has been generally agreed that while plants can obtain all their carbon from the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, they cannot make use of the superabundance of nitrogen in the same So that when combined nitrogen once becomes converted into free nitrogen it is practically lost to vegetation; for it is only by processes which are much too slow for the rapid demand that the free nitrogen is again brought into an available form.

source.

Wasteful consumption of nitrogen is, then, almost as culpable as wasteful consumption of coal, as far as its ultimate recovery is concerned, and far more culpable as far as its necessity to man is concerned.

According to the above tenets, plants must take up all the nitrogen they require from the soil, and it has been shown that, even here, nitrate is the only form in which it can be readily absorbed. It is a curious reflection that the life of man should thus hang upon the life of the microscopical nitrifying organisms which convert nitrogenous organic matter into nitrates. Luckily, there is still a plentiful supply of nitrogenous organic matter for the nitrifying organisms to work upon; for we learn, on page 16, that in all ordinary soils there is seldom less than 3,500 lbs. of such nitrogen per acre to a depth of one foot, and in rich soils often double that amount, while, of course, there is a vast supply below the depth of one foot. Moreover, we may take comfort from Sir John Lawes' calculations, quoted on page 43, which show that, when all known sources of loss and gain are considered, the amount of nitrogen probably lost per annum is only about 15 to 20 lbs.

per acre.

But a change has been coming over the scientific horizon during the last few months; for our highest authorities on these subjects, Lawes and Gilbert, have been repeating the experiments which the Germans, Hellriegel and Wilforth's, have been conducting for the last five years. These experiments go far towards proving that certain heretofore mysterious tubercles, which form upon the roots of leguminous plants, contain micro-organisms which are capable of taking up atmospheric nitrogen in some at present inexplicable way, and of transferring it to the roots in a form which they can absorb. If such be really the case, some practical experiences which have long been wanting explanation will be cleared up; we refer to the curious way in which nitrogenous fertilisers have always failed to do much good to leguminous crops, notwithstanding that they are so beneficial to all others; and to the fact that although leguminous crops remove more nitrogen from the soil than most others, yet they leave it richer in that food.

A never failing source of nitrogen for our crops is thus rendered possible; but, as our author points out, it would be rash to conclude on the strength of their comparatively few experiments that we need no longer take care for the morrow, and may lavishly expend our nitrogenous substance.

A Lecture delivered before the British Chemical Manure Manufacturers' Asso ciation in London. By C. M. Aikman, M.A,, B.Sc., etc.-Glasgow, C. L. Wright 100, West George-street.

The greatest source of loss of nitrogen to our soil is our system of sewage disposal, by which all the excreted nitrogen of the inhabitants of towns is washed into the sea. It is estimated that an amount of nitrogen equivalent to 734,172 tons of sodium nitrate were removed from the soil in the total wheat, barley, and oats crops of Great Britain in 1889; only so much of this as existed in the portion of the crops which was consumed on the farms producing them, can be relied upon as having been returned to the soil; the rest being, as we have already said, washed into the sea, whence but very little returns as sea-weed and fish manures.

Another source of loss-one which a less careful observer than Mr. Aikman would have failed to draw our attention to-is the nitrogen used in making explosives; it appears that some 10,000,000 lbs. of nitrogen are being yearly converted into the free state owing to the necessity for blasting rocks and maintaining standing armies.

The various nitrogenous manures, by means of which nitrogen is returned to the soil, receive ample consideration. It is to be noted that Peruvian guano is practically exhausted, and the much smaller quantities which we now import are much poorer in nitrogen than the earlier imports were. Nitrate of soda, too, is less imported now than it was 15 years back, notwithstanding its rapid fall in price. It is to be hoped that it will grow much cheaper soon; for we believe that the price of ammonium sulphate will fall with it. The manufacture of this last-mentioned manure is steadily increasing, and, if only Mr. Ludwig Mond's experiments on the recovery of nitrogen from coal during its combustion could be realised, vast amounts of ammonium sulphate would be obtained.

When all nitrogenous manures are taken into account, it is found that, notwithstanding that the price of nitrogen has fallen during the last fifteen years from 20s. to IOS. per unit, we now use only some 28,000 tons of it for manurial purposes, whereas we used some 34,000 tons fifteen years ago. Although this can be somewhat accounted for by the fact that more grazing is done now, more nitrogen used as feeding cakes and subsequently made into farmyard manure, yet we cannot help agreeing with Mr. Bernard Dyer that much land must be under-farmed at the present day. This chemist has calculated that if the moderate dressings of 34-cwt. of nitrate of soda per acre had been applied in 1889 to the total area on which wheat was cultivated, and of 2 cwt. per acre to the total area on which mangels were grown, more than 35,000 tons of nitrate would have been used, whereas, as a matter of fact, about 10,000 tons only were used.

And does this under-farming arise from ignorance? Educate the farmers, is the popular cry of the present day; technical education is said to be neglected in this country. Yet 50 years have passed since the Royal Agricultural College was founded at Cirencester, and within the last ten years half-a-dozen imitators have sprung into being; can this be said to be neglect ?

No, we are inclined to attribute more to the enormous impetus which trade received by the discoveries at the beginning of the present reign. Ever since, there has been a rush to fortune-making pursuits, and agriculture has been deserted. Now that we are closing factories and disputing with our "hands," more of us will turn to the oldest of trades, and the use of nitrogenous manures will go up with a bound.

Meanwhile, the chemical manure manufacturer may do much ; let him improve, cheapen, and push his wares to the utmost; and, as a preliminary step in the right direction, we can conscientiously recommend him to peruse Mr. Aikman's little pamphlet.

JALAP RESIN.-Prof. Fluckiger accounts for the noticed decreasd yield of jalap resin in the last twenty years by the partial extraction of the resin by means of alcohol before the jalap is placed upon the market (Am. Journ. Pharm., 1890, 141). Bellingrodt has observed no diminution in the yield of jalap resin; he publishes results of assays made in 1851-1854 with an average yield of 11:58 per cent. and the average for the last thirty years he gives as 1160 per cent. Dieterich finds the yield for the last two years to have been 7'1, 7'7, 66 and 8.1 per cent., confirming Fluckiger's statement. These last figures have reference to official resin and not to total extracts oluble in alcohol; in the last lot examined by him the total amount soluble in alcohol was 14 per cent., while the official resin was only 81 per cent.-Oil, Paint and Drug Reporter.

E.

THE

PERMANENT CHEMICAL EXHIBITION.

HE proprietors wish to remind subscribers and their frien:ls generally that there is no charge for admission to the Exhibition. Visitors are requested to leave their cards, and will confer a favour by making any suggestions that may occur to them in the direction of promoting the usefulness of the Institution.

JOSEPH AIRD, Greatbridge.-Iron tubes and coils of all kinds. ASHMORE, BENSON, PEASE AND CO., STOCKTON-ON-TEES.-Sulphate of Ammonia Stills, Green's Patent Scrubber, Gasometers, and Gas Plant generally.

BLACKMAN VENTILATING Co., LONDON.-Fans, Air Propellers, Ventilating Machinery.

GEO. G. BLACKWELL, LIVERPOOL.-Manganese Ores, Bauxite, French Chalk. Importers of minerals of every description. BRACHER AND Co., WINCANTON. -Automatic Stills, and Patent Mixing Machinery for Dry Paints, Powders, &c.

BRUNNER, MOND AND CO., NORTHWICH.-Bicarbonate of Soda, Soda Ash, Soda Crystals, Muriate of Ammonia, Sulphate of Ammonia, Sesqui-Carbonate of Ammonia.

BUCKLEY BRICK AND TILE Co., BUCKLEY.-Fireclay ware of all
kinds-Slabs, Blocks, Bricks, Tiles, " Metalline," &c.
CHADDERTON IRON WORKS Co., CHADDERTON.-Steam Driers and
Steam Traps (McDougall's Patent).

W. F. CLAY, EDINBURGH.-Scientific Literature-English, French,
German, American. Works on Chemistry a speciality.
CLAYTON ANILINE Co., CLAYTON.-Aniline Colours, Aniline Salt,
Benzole, Toluole, Xylole, and Nitro-compounds of all kinds.

J: CORTIN, NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE.-Regulus and Brass Taps and
Valves, "Non-rotative Acid Valves," Lead Burning Apparatus.
R. DAGLISH AND CO., ST. HELENS.-Photographs of Chemical Plant
-Blowing Engines, Filter Presses, Sludge Pumps, &c.
DAVIS BROS., MANCHESTER.-Samples of Products from various
Chemical processes-Coal Distilling, Evaporation of Paper-lyes,
Treatment of waste liquor from mills, &c.

R. & J. DEMPSTER, MANCHESTER.-Photographs of Gas Plants,
Holders, Condensers, Purifiers, &c.

DOULTON AND CO., LAMBETH.-Specimens of Chemical Stoneware, Stills, Condensers, Receivers, Boiling-pots, Store jars, &c.

E. FAHRIG, PLAISTOW, ESSEX.-Ozonised products. OzoneBleached Esparto-pulp, Ozonised Oil, Ozone-Ammoniated Lime,

&c.

GALLOWAYS, LIMITED, MANCHESTER. - Photographs illustrating Boiler factory, and an installation of 1,500-h.p.

GRIMSHAW BROS., LIMITED, CLAYTON -Zinc Compounds. Sizing Materials, India-rubber Chemicals.

JEWSBURY AND Brown, ManchestER -Samples of Aerated Waters. JOSEPH KERSHAW AND CO, HOLLINWOOD. - Soaps, Greases, and Varnishes of various kinds to suit all requirements.

C. R. LINDSAY AND CO., CLAYTON.-Lead Salts, (Acetate, Nitrate, etc.) Sulphate of Copper, etc.

CHAS. LOWE AND CO., REDDISH.-Mural Tablet-makers of Carbolic Crystals, Cresylic and Picric Acids, Sheep Dip, Disinfectants, &c. MANCHESTER ANILINE Co., MANCHESTER. -Aniline Colours. Samples of Dyed Goods and Miscellaneous Chemicals, both organic and inorganic.

MELDRUM BROS., MANCHESTER. - Steam Ejectors, Exhausters, Silent Boiling Jets, Air Compressors, and Acid Lifters.

E. D. MILNES AND BROTHER, BURY.-Dyewoods and Dyewood Extracts. Also samples of dyed fabrics.

MUSGRAVE AND CO., BELFAST.-Slow Combustion Stoves. Makers of all kinds of heating appliances.

NEWCASTLE CHEMICAL WORKS COMPANY, LIMITED, NEWCASTLEON-TYNE.-Caustic Soda (ground and solid), Soda Ash, Recovered Sulphur, etc.

ROBINSON, COOKS, AND COMPANY, ST. HELENS.-Drawings, illustrating their Gas Compressors and Vacuum Pumps, fitted with Pilkington and Forrest's patent Valves.

J. ROYLE, MANCHESTER.-Steam Reducing Valves.

A. SMITH, CLAYTON.-India-rubber Chemicals, Rubber Substitute, Bisulphide of Carbon, Solvent Naphtha, Liquid Ammonia, and Disinfecting Fluids.

WORTHINGTON PUMPING ENGINE COMPANY, LONDON.-Pumping Machinery. Speciality, their "Duplex" Pump.

JOSEPH WRIGHT AND COMPANY, TIPTON.-Berryman Feed-water Heater. Makers also of Multiple Effect Stills and WaterSoftening Apparatus.

Official Memoranda.

CONSULAR REPORTS.

COCHINEAL.

In

The Belgian Consul-General in the Canary Islands devotes a very considerable portion of his report to cochineal, describing in detail its production, the different commercial classes of the product, and its analysis, also enumerating the various substitutes which are now in use in place of cochineal, as well as a tabular statement of the exports, price per pound, and total value for each year from 1831 to 1888. 1831 only eight pounds were exported, for a value of 80 francs; the maximum export was reached in 1869, when it amounted to 6,076,869 lbs. for 19,749,824 francs, fluctuating then for several years between four and five million pounds, declining in 1886 to 2,330,947 lbs., in 1887 to 2,169,341 lbs., and in 1888 to 1,735,200 lbs.-(Recueil Consulaire, vol. Ixix., part 4, 1890.)

PUMICE STONE.

The same Consul-General states that a very important mine of pumice stone exists on the Teneriffe Peak, of which the working was only started in 1888. The stone is found in that part of the peak called the "Canadas," at about 2,000 feet above sea level, which has an area of some 6,000 hectares, out of the middle of which rises the highest part of the peak. The Russian Consul at St. Croix, bought this property of the Spanish Government in consideration of an annual payment for the pumice stone working. The Russian Consul has associated himself with a Belgian, and they, under the firm styled Aguilar and Valcke, commenced operations in 1888, but it was only last year exportation was really started. At the Paris Exhibition, the Consul-General states that this stone obtained a silver medal, and in view of the requirements of England, France, and America, he believes it will develop a trade of great importance before many years. So far, the Lipari Islands have practically furnished the world's supply of this product, exporting about 100,000 tons per annum. The Teneriffe stone being recognised as of excellent quality, and its extraction being a much more simple matter than in the Lipari Islands, it follows that the price is much less. More capital will, however, be wanted to extend the working operations.-(Recueil Consulaire, vol. Ixix., part 4, 1890.)

OZOKERIT.

The Belgian Consul-General at Vienna remarks on the great progress which has been made since 1886 in the working of the ozokerit mines in the neighbourhood of Boryslav (Galicia). These mines, which, for the most part, have so far been worked in a very primitive manner, and have been in the hands of men who were generally in want of money and knowledge, have nearly all been taken over under a preliminary convention that the privileged I. & R. Austrian Société for Commerce and Industry at Vienna has concluded with the intention of working them properly by means of a powerful company. The primitive methods of working raised the production from 89,000 quintals in 1883 to 108,000 metric quintals in 1889. The average price is twenty-eight florins per 100 kilogs. delivered at Boryslav, but it rose in the course of 1889 to thirty-eight florins, by reason of considerable purchases for England. The competiton of other mines is not felt at present. Ozokerit has been found also at Pomiarki (Galicia). The production of the Utah mine (North America) rose from 65,000 lbs. in 1888 to 130,000 lbs. in 1889, and a second deposit has been discovered. The producers in Galicia fear for the future of their export trade, which rose from 11,965 quintals in 1883 to 69,495 quintals in 1888.— (Recueil Consulaire, vol. Ixix., part 3, 1890.)

ENFORCING FOREIGN JUDGMENTS IN ITALY.

Mr. Vice-Consul de Zuccato, of Florence, says cases frequently occur of British people having to enforce a sentence in Italy, against foreign subjects, obtained from a legally constituted court in England, commencing proceedings anew in Italy, in accordance with the local laws, thereby incurring a heavy expenditure, with a doubtful probability of success. Whenever a sentence against foreigners is legally pronounced by a duly constituted court in England, the enforcement of the same in Italy may be demanded by the Court of Appeal in the jurisdiction of which the sentence is to be put into execution, on production of the original documents duly legalized by an Italian Consul. The Court of Appeal will examine if the sentence has been legally issued, and if all the required formalities with respect to the serving of summonses, &c., have been observed; and, if there is nothing in the sentence against public order or public right, the Court will issue a decree giving the same force to the judgment as if it had been delivered by an Italian tribunal. This mode of proceeding, which would appear to be little

understood in England, or at any rate imperfectly used, is called "Guidizio di Delibazione." The Court of Appeal at Venice has jurisdiction over all the Venetian provinces.-(Annual Series, 1890, No. 641.)

DETERMINING FREE ACIDS IN OILS.

GEISSLER'S method, consisting in dissolving the oil in ether

alcohol and titrating it with decinormal alcoholic (50 per cent.) alkali, is accurate and can be used in all cases, save where the oil is so dark coloured as to hide the change of the indicator (phenolphthalein) used. By employing a cylinder about 4 cm in diameter instead of a flask, this difficulty is much lessened. The process is especially suited for clear mineral oils. Burstyn's plan of shaking the oil with an equal volume of alcohol, drawing off and titrating an' aliquot portion, is fallacious, as the whole of the free fat acid is only extracted by repeated treatment with alcohol, and thus the results are low when compared with those given by Geissler's method; eg, a refined rape oil containing 0 730 per cent. of acid, calculated as SO, gave only o 374 per cent. when thus treated. Merz shakes the oil with alcohol in a stoppered flask and titrates the mixture with repeated agitation. This gives accurate results, and is well adapted for oils containing a considerable quantity of free fat acid, as if treated by Geissler's method they require an inconveniently large amount of alcohol to prevent the oil being precipitated from its ethereal solution by the standard caustic alkali in weak alcohol. Burstyn's physical method, which consists in shaking the oil with alcohol of known specific gravity and deducing the quantity of fat acid it extracts by the increase in density it suffers, is quite untrustworthy; eg., an oil containing o'091 per cent. of acid, calculated as SO3, gave o 280 per cent. Many causes conduce to this result; among them may be mentioned the different specific gravities of the acids extracted, the error caused by the presence of a mineral acid, such as sulphuric acid, and the varying quantity of neutral oil dissolved. The following method is adapted for opaque mineral oils: 25 c.c. of the oil is shaken with 50 c.c. of absolute alcohol in a stoppered cylinder about 2 cm. in diameter, and the mixture allow to settle; 25 c.c. of the alcohol is then drawn off, 10 c.c. of ether added if turbid, and titrated with decinormal caustic soda. If more than 2 c.c. be used, the rest of the alcohol is poured off, another 50 c.c. added, and the process repeated. The free acid has been calculated as SO throughout for the sake of uniformity.—Oil and Colourmans' Journal.

A

THE AIR MOISTENING OF MILLS AND

FACTORIES.

FEW days ago, a party of gentlemen interested in the Lancashire cotton trade, and mechanical experts from different parts of the country, paid a visit to the Hurst Mills, Ashton-under-Lyne, for the purpose of examining a new system of air moistening and ventilation for factories, mills, public buildings, &c. The new method of moistening, or steaming, is obtained by means of the Aerophor Air Moistener," an apparatus which distributes moisture in the form of a very fine water cloud, either warm or cold. The water, which is pure and filtered, is propelled through a spray. The apparatus contains in itself no movable parts, and is, independent of number, worked by a high pressure pump. It consumes from two to two and a half gallons of water per hour, which is all absorbed by the atmosphere, and is capable of humidifying from 35,000 to 40,000 cubic feet to any desired degree. The introduction of the "moistener," which is a German invention, is chiefly the result of the Steaming in Weaving Sheds Act. The "moistener," which may be used either with or without an "Aerophor" ventilator, is said to be an excellent means of improving the health of the workpeople, making the atmospheric condition of the workroom more agreeable, without the noxious vapours created by the use of steam. It is also claimed to not only improve the output of cloth in mills in which it is in use, but also to improve the quality of the fabrics by rendering them more even, smooth, and brilliant. Saturday's inspection confirmed in every way the statements of the agents of the apparatus, both manager and work people expressing much satisfaction at its use. The weaving shed contained 480 looms, in which five moisteners were placed. As far as temperature was concerned, without considering the improvement in quality of cloth, 8 to 10 degrees less than was the case without the moisteners were registered. The members of the party were unanimous in approving its adoption. Some ten thousand installations have been made in Germany, and a number of the largest manufacturers in Lancashire and Yorkshire are giving the system a trial. The sole agents for this country are the United Kingdom Engineering Company, whose branch office in Manchester is at 17, Victoria Street.