916 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



ing it into ammonia and nitrons and nitric acids. Others, again, of 

 which we are just beginning to learn, destroy this work and set the 

 nitrogen free. A part of the work accomplished, however, is not 

 undone, for the nitrates which are taken up by the roots rise to the 

 leaves and help form the complex substances necessary to animal life. 



Although the plant profits by the work of the micro-organisms, it 

 assists them in its turn. The roots of the plant and its discarded leaves 

 falling like a beneficent rain furnish the carbonaceous matter necessary 

 to the life and work of the fixers of nitrogen. 



The harmony of nature increases in beauty as we slowly arrive at a 

 better understanding of it, and our admiration increases with the new 

 knowledge of the solidarity of the fixers of nitrogen and the fixers of 

 carbon, which mutually assist each other and insure the continuance 

 of life upon the surface of the earth. 



