Translations:Benutzer:Arian/Klett-Mini-Test/343/en

of a farm lose as many nutrients as are contained in the produce sold off it. From this conclusion he developed his mineral fertilization theory, according to which the nutrient present in minimum quantity limits the yield. Liebig, who stood with one foot still in German Idealism and the other in the rising materialism of the second half of the nineteenth century, was convinced that the loss of the soil-bound core nutrients — phosphorus, potassium, and others — must be made good to the soil through manuring. He judged otherwise, however, contrary to the prevailing doctrine, in the matter of nitrogen. For this, he held, nature itself would provide. Ranged against him stood his opponents, the advocates of nitrogen fertilization, who in the course of time gained the upper hand. A posthumous vindication for Liebig came with the implementation and confirmation of his theses by the farmer Schultz-Lupitz (1831–1899), who after decades of effort succeeded in markedly improving the yield level of the extremely poor sandy soils of Lupitz by deepening the humus profile.