This last experiment most nearly represents the true power of absorption; because, in fermenting manures, ammonia mostly occurs in the form of carbonate, and this is more largely retained than free ammonia, on account of its power of decomposing the humate of lime, forming with it carbonate of lime and humate of ammonia. The absorbent power of peat is well shown by the analyses of three specimens, sent me in 1858, by Edwin Hoyt, Esq., of New Canaan, Conn. The first of these was the swamp muck he employed. It contained in the air-dry state nitrogen equivalent to 0.58 _per cent._ of ammonia. The second sample was the same muck that had lain under the flooring of the horse stables, and had been, in this way, partially saturated with urine. It contained nitrogen equivalent to 1.15 _per cent._ of ammonia. The third sample was, finally, the same muck composted with white-fish. It contained nitrogen corresponding to 1.31 _per cent._ of ammonia.[3] The quantities of ammonia thus absorbed, both in the laboratory and field experiments are small--from 0.7 to 1.3 _per cent._ The absorption is without doubt chiefly due to the organic matter of the peats, and in all the specimens on which these trials were made, the proportion of inorganic matter is large. The results therefore become a better expression of the power of _peat_, in general, to absorb ammonia, if we reckon them on the organic matter alone. Calculated in this way, the organic matter of the Beaver Pond peat (which constitutes but 68 _per cent._ of the dry peat) absorbs 1.4 _per cent._ of free ammonia, and 1.9 _per cent._ of ammonia out of the carbonate of ammonia. Similar experiments, by Anderson, on a Scotch peat, showed it to possess, when wet, an absorptive power of 2 _per cent._, and, after drying in the air, it still retained 1.5 _per cent._--[Trans. Highland and Ag'l Soc'y.] When we consider how small an ingredient of most manures nitrogen is, viz.: from one-half to three-quarters of one _per cent._ in case of stable manure, and how little of it, in the shape of guano for instance, is usually applied to crops--not more than 40 to 60 lbs. to the acre, (the usual dressings with guano are from 250 to 400 lbs. per acre, and nitrogen averages but 15 _per cent._ of the guano), we at once perceive that an absorptive power of one or even one-half _per cent._ is greatly more than adequate for every agricultural purpose. III.--_Peat promotes the disintegration of the soil._