A hypothesis is tested that allows study of not only the quantity but also the quality of ion exchange in soils, composts, peats, and its mixtures, which is common in natural and synthetic ion exchangers, on the basis of the ion-exchange process and its selectivity. For practical application of ion exchange in the soil not only the quantity of base cations and hydroxon ions bound by the solid soil phase is significant but also their readiness to ion exchange or ion exchange elasticity. Selectivity of ion exchange, expressed by selectivity coefficient, reflects the readiness of ion exchange while ion-exchange thermodynamics show the degree of spontaneity of the ion-exchange process. The results document that soil humus is the highest-quality ion exchanger in soil and that its quality may be assessed by the proposed method. The effort to replace humus by any synthetic ion exchangers cannot be successful: Although they have a high value of cation exchange capacity, they also show high selectivity for ions of higher valence and low ion-exchange elasticity, and their desorption of calcium and magnesium is poor.