the view that each crop requires certain mineral elements from the soil, and that crops will not flourish where the appropriate elements are lacking. Every soil contains some element in the minimum. Whatever element this minimum may be it determines the abundance and continuity of the crop. The only fertiliser which acts favourably is that which supplies a deficiency of one or more of the food elements in the soil. The atmosphere, according to Liebig, supplies in sufficient quantity both the carbon and nitrogen required by crops, and the function of manure is to supply the ash constituents of the soil. The exhaustion of soils is to be ascribed to their decreased content of mineral ingredients rather than to decrease in nitrogen.
When careful study of the composition of the atmosphere proved that the amount of ammonia brought down to the earth by rain scarcely exceeds a few pounds per acre annually, Liebig maintained that plants are capable of directly absorbing ammonia by means of their leaves. He pointed out that the beneficial effects of nitrogenous manures are most apparent in the case of cereal crops with a comparatively short vegetation period, and least apparent in the case of leafy crops with a long vegetation period. The long vegetation period of crops like clover allowed time for the utilisation of the ammonia of the air and no artificial supply was necessary. On the other hand, crops with a short vegetation period had a limited time for accumulating ammonia from the air, and responded readily to applications of nitrogenous manures.
Gilbert, early in his work at Rothamsted, noticed that the results of his field experiments were at variance with this "mineral theory," as it was called, of Liebig, and soon found himself involved in a controversy with the great German chemist which was not always free from bitterness. He found that the nitrogen compounds of the atmosphere were sufficient only for a very meagre vegetation. Cereals treated with ammonium salts and other nitrogenous manures showed a far greater increase of produce than when phosphates, potash or other ash constituents only were supplied. "As more nitrogen was assimilated a greater amount of the fixed bases were found in
