The determination of ammonia in soil

Abstract

Ammonia can be recovered from soil with an efficiency of 98·5 to 99·5 per cent, in six hours in the apparatus described. For most purposes it is sufficient to aerate the soil for three hours. Highly dunged glasshouse soils undergo partial decomposition in the cold with magnesia. In such cases the soil should be aerated with magnesia and strong sodium chloride solution for a definite time, say three hours. The complete recovery of added ammonia from a calcareous soil is difficult unless the soil is finely ground.