Note 43 — Chapter V · NITROGEN AND AIR

We see similar cases everywhere. For example, the predominating mass of sand and clay in the soil takes hardly any chemical part in the economy of the soil in respect to the nourishment of plants. The plants by their roots search for substances which are diffused in comparatively small quantities in the soil. If a large quantity of these nourishing substances are removed, then the plants will not develop in the soil, just as animals die in oxygen.