The important point to be emphasised is, that for the healthy development of these organisms, which are so necessary in every fertile soil, certain conditions must exist. These necessary conditions will be treated more in detail later on. It is sufficient to notice that they have to do with the physical properties as well as the chemical composition of the soil. This furnishes a further reason for the necessity of having the mechanical condition of a soil satisfactory. _Recapitulation._ From what we have said, it will be seen that the question of soil-fertility is a very complicated one, and depends on numerous and varied conditions; that the properties which constitute fertility, while seemingly very widely different in their nature, in reality influence one another to a very great extent; that not merely is the presence in a soil of the necessary plant constituents necessary to fertility, but that the possession by the soil of certain physical or mechanical properties is equally necessary; while, lastly, we have seen that the presence of certain micro-organic life is bound up with the problem of fertility in a very direct and practical manner. The importance of the conditions, other than those of a purely chemical nature, have been thus far somewhat prominently emphasised, for the reason that in what follows attention will be almost exclusively devoted to the purely chemical conditions of fertility. It is well, then, to realise that, while the latter conditions are by far the most important, so far as the farmer is practically concerned, inasmuch as they are most under his control, they are not the only conditions, and are not by themselves able to control fertility. FOOTNOTES: [33] This statement perhaps needs qualification. While the important _role_ played by the physical qualities of the soil were in the early years of the science recognised, of more recent years the chemical composition of the soil has been engaging almost exclusive investigation. Physical properties of the soil have recently acquired a further importance in the eyes of the agricultural chemist, from the important influence they exert on what we have here called the biological properties of a soil--viz., the development of those fermentative processes whereby plant-food is prepared to a large extent. [34] A good example of the absorptive capacity of a soil containing a large quantity of vegetable matter is furnished by peat-bogs, which, sponge-like, can absorb enormous quantities of water. (See Appendix, Note I., p. 98.)