Utilisation of Nitrogen in Air by Plants

Abstract

YOUR reviewer (p. 531) of the above work has, like others, failed to furnish any proof against my theory of the fixation of free nitrogen by plants. He desiderates direct chemical proof of the increase of nitrogen in the plant, beyond the nitrogen that is provided by the seed and the soil. Those acquainted with agricultural chemistry know the difficulty of directly determining a slight increase in the quantity of nitrogen, in the circumstance of the comparatively large quantity of nitrogen in the soil necessary to produce a vigorous plant, and they will understand how difficult it is to produce such proof; with the greater information now available, however, it may now be forthcoming. But for this difficulty, the fixation of nitrogen would have been found out long ago.