Nitrogen and its Relation to Plants:
Food is the course of energy in every living thing and is essential to both animal and plant life. Plants get their food from the lifeless matter which exists in the air and in the soil; while animals get their food from plants. It is true that man and many other animals eat fleshy foods and depend upon them for partial sustenance, but the ultimate source of all animal food is plant life, since meat-producing animals live upon plant growth.

Plants get their food from the air, the soil, and moisture. From the air, the leaves take carbon dioxide and water and transform them into starchy food; from the soil, the roots take water rich in mineral matters dissolved from the soil. From the substances thus gathered, the plant lives and builds up its structure.

A food substance necessary to plant life and growth is nitrogen. Since a vast store of nitrogen exists in the air, it would seem that plants should never lack for this food, but most plants are unable to make use of the boundless store of atmospheric nitrogen, because they do not possess the power of abstracting nitrogen from the air. For this reason, they have to depend solely upon nitrogenous compounds which are present in the soil and are soluble in water. The soluble nitrogenous soil compounds are absorbed by roots and are utilized by plants for food.