Nitrification
the changing of compounds into nitrates under certain conditions. First, the temperature must be suitable, for at about 5° C. the process is stopped; but with a rise of NITRO-BENZENE temperature there is a proportionate increase of work-commencing at about 12° C. till 37° is reached, which is the "optimum" temperature, and from this onward there is a diminution of action until the "maximum" temperature of 55° C. is reached, when nitrification ceases.
These bacteroids are annihilated at a temperature of 90° C., although the same result will follow drying even at a much lower temperature. The second condition is the presence of oxygen; and the third is the presence of a salifiable base, such as lime, potash, soda, etc., without which nitrification cannot proceed. Under these conditions nitrification goes on in every fertile soil, the atmospheric nitrogen, nitrogenous organic matter, or ammonia compounds being converted, in the presence of lime or potash, into the corresponding nitrates of lime or potash; and from these nitric compounds plants derive the most or all of their nitrogen.