Many of these processes were tried; but it was found by experiment that the best and most economical way was by applying the slag direct to the ground in a state of very fine powder. Experiments further showed that it had _not_ the injurious effect on vegetation which it was feared it would have from the protoxide of iron it contained. The discovery that its phosphoric acid existed, as has been already explained, as a tetrabasic phosphate of lime, has strengthened the opinion that this is the best method of application. A good deal has been found to depend upon the fineness of the ground slag, with the result that it is now commonly sold on a mechanical as well as a chemical analysis--_i.e._, the slag is guaranteed to pass through a sieve of a certain fineness. _Solubility of Slag._ Professor Wagner of Darmstadt has carried out some extremely interesting experiments on the solubility of slag. He found that very finely powdered slag was dissolved in carbonic acid water to the extent of 36 per cent, while, similarly treated, phosphorite only dissolved to the extent of 8 per cent.[235] Another very important solvent is _citrate of ammonia_. Reverted (or precipitated) phosphate is entirely soluble in it, and phosphate soluble in it ought to be valued as worth more than that which is not. Now, the solubility of Thomas-slag in citrate of ammonia was found by Professor Wagner to be no less than 74 per cent, while that of phosphorite only amounted to 4 per cent. These results were corroborated by Professor S. W. Johnson, who found that of the 19.87 per cent of phosphoric acid contained in a sample of basic slag, no less than 19.57 per cent was soluble in ammonium citrate, while a finely ground sample of phosphatic rock yielded, on analysis, only 1.81 per cent soluble in citrate of ammonia, of a total of 29.49 per cent phosphoric acid which it contained. Professor Fleischer has also tested the comparative solubility of basic slag and phosphorite, by boiling them in a solution of acetic acid. The former was found to have been dissolved to the extent of 19 per cent, while the latter to only 5 per cent. A highly interesting and most important experiment was performed by Mr Heinrich Albert, of Biebrich. One gramme of basic slag and 100 grammes of peat were mixed together in a litre of water, and it was found that, after standing for fourteen days, 79 per cent of the phosphoric acid contained in the slag was rendered soluble.