Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-11-03
Earth Worms.

u you were to see a jar Of earth III
Which a great many earth worms hat
been placed, you would doubtless con-
clude that they had been gathered BY
some fisherman, and were to do duty as,
bait; but l wish to tell you of a jar Of
worms that belonged to a naturalist
who had collected them that he might
study their habits.
He soon found that they form for
themselves little burrows in the earth,
in which they rest quietly during the
day. coming out to look Cor food byi
night. But how can they tell day from
night? Have they eyes? Can they
see? Mr. Darwin, after close study
concluded that they have no eyes, but
that the front part of their bodies is sem
sitive to light; for, if he concentrated,
by a lens the rays of a candle upon
their heads, they dashed into their bur-
rows like rabbits; if, however, he shaded
their heads and cast the light upon
some other part of their bodies, they
took no notice of it.
Can they smell? MI. Darwin buried
bits Of onions and cabbage in the
ground. These they soon found, guided
to them by the sense OF smell. They
showed that they liked the taste Of
some articles much better than that of
others. Thus when bits of green and
red cabbage were placed side by side
they always chose the green, but would
readily leave either for celery. Nor do
they crave an exclusively vegetable diet.
1t was really amusing to see them striv-
ing to secure firmly in their jaws bits of
meat which had been fastened by long
pins. Night after night they would tug
at them, in their struggle reaching half
out of their burrows.
Can they hear? They seemed to pay
no attention to any noises in the room,
but if the jar in which they lived were
placed upon the piano while the keys
were struck, they seemed to be fright
ened by the vibrations thus felt, and;
soon retired to their burrows.
Are they of any use to manP If YOU
will look into the garden around their
burrows you will see little mounds of
earth, not very high, but very fine. I'll
is said that in India these mounds may
sometimes be seen as higha as six inches.
This earth has been brought to the sur
face by the earth-worm; part of it he
has removed while making his burrows
When we consider the numbers of earth
worms throughout the soil in all parts,
of the world, and the fact that each one
is throwing up these earth-castings, we
will see that they are all busy in max
ing the soil of our fields and gardens
very fine and porous. :
At one time Mr.. Darwin, wishing to
ascertain the amount of mold that
would thus be worked over in a given
time, had lime spread upon a meadow,
leaving it undisturbed for ten years.;
Immediately these little farmers began
operations. Here and there they bur.
rowed through the lime, leaving around
their homes their little castings of fine
soil. Gradually this pulverized soil
covered the lime and it disappeared
from sight. At the end of ten years!
holes were dug at various points through
the meadow, and then it was discov-
cred that the lime was three inches be-
low the surface; those three inches rep
resenting the amount of fine mold
brought up by the earth-worms. The
casting thus thrown out on sloping hillJ
sides are washed down into the valleys
by the rains; thus the little earth-worm
may be laying bare the surface of the
mighty rocks as well as %pulverizing the
soil. !:
We have often heard of the coral in,
sect-more properly, coral animal, for,
he is no insect-which, out in the ocean,,
slowly builds up islands for mans hab-
itation. We may now regard our
familiar earth-worm as his fellow-workI
er, as a "planer of the mountain side, a
maker of fertile, alluvial corn lands"
and thus an unconscious friend to man.
in his agricultural operations.-Mrs n
C. Phebus, IN S. S. Classmate. +;