Letter to the Editor

[First paragraph...]
An end to this correspondence is surely timely but may we make three brief points.
1. We have never questioned that "the removal of surface litter and the top few cm of soil may remove the majority of plant nutrients". We did question the average reader's interpretation of Fig. 2 in "An Ecological Approach to New Zealand's Future" in which concentrations rather than amounts were shown. In Dr Ogden's Figure 1 above we feel we have illustrated this points and we are pleased that he agrees.