St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1884-03-22
The Absence Of EarthwOrms from Ca.
madam Prairies.


bic of the very notable series of works
which Mr.. Darwin has given to the
world is that which came last from his
pen but short time previous to his Ia
mented death. Dealing as it does with
effects which, when looked at in the de-
tail, are exceedingly small and insig-
nificant. but. when viewed in the aggre-
gate, are shown to be of surprising inn
portance, the Vegetable Mould and
Earthwormsn must certainly rank as a
most strikingly interesting work.
1t is not my desire to call in question
the conclusions at which MIR. Darwin
has arrived with regard to the action of
earthworms in cultivating the soil, but
wish to point out that in one extensive
portion of the earth's surface, to which
much attention has of late been directed
on account of its agricultural capabili-
ties, earthworms do not exist. | refer
to the vast region commonly known as
Manitoba and Northwest Territories.
| NV friend, Mr.. E. Z. Il. Seton. of Car
berry, Manitoba, was the first to point
out to me that this enormous country
must be regarded as forming an excep-
tion to Mr.. Darwin generalizations, on
account of the total absence from it of
every kind of earthworm, and, having
lately returned from visit to those
regions. | can add my testimony to his
| in this particular, as well as in the mat
ter OF the amazing innate fertility of the
soil, which has been the wonder and re-
mark of all travellers for years past, but
which, in this case. obviously can not
! be attributed to the action of worms,
since those do not exist there.
The agency which l believe has caused
the absence of earthworms from the
Northwest is the prairie fires which an
nually sweep over enormous portions of
the country. totally consuming the
grass and converting it into a black ash.
This. it might well be imagined, would
for months together completely deprive
any worms that formerly existed of that
variety of decaying vegetable matter
! that composes their food; and assuming
that fires have annually passed over
large portions of the prairies for scores
of generations Gas seems in every way
probable), it appears to me only rea-
sonable to suppose that this cause would
effcctually have exterminated the worms
from the country or have prevented
their occupying it. 1t is my belief Gas
l shall elsewhere state more fully that
the very fertile. fine, black. powdery
and almost soot-likc soil from one to
three feet thick, even the open, treeless
nature of the prairies themselves, and
the absence from their surface, so fal
as my observation goes, of every species
of mollusk, while many species abound
in all the ponds, lakes and streams, are
all in Il large degree, if not entirely,
due to the action of fire. Ii this view
ultimately turns out to be correct, il
will be further seen that the very
means which has deprived the soil oi
the Northwest of that natural eultiva
ton which the soils of most other coun.
tries eniovs, has, at the same time, liber.
ally supplied it with a manure resulting
from charred ashes of the grass which
is annually burned.
As another evidence of the absence
of worms, the numerous large glacial
powders that strew the prairies around
Brandon and elsewhere may be cited.
These. had worms existed, would
doubtless have long ago been lowered
beneath the surface, as also the skulls
! anu OlIlcI UOuCS VI 81
abound on the prairies, and most oi
which have evidently lain there long
while. Nevertheless, some of these
have been buried in the course of time,
as one gentleman told me that he had
sometimes turned them up from &
depth of two or three inches beneath
the surface when plowing. Their
burial may have been accomplished by
the wind drifting soil over them, or by
the working of gophers. OF these pc
culiar little animals two species are
very abundant on the prairies. where
they make extensive burrows, which il
seems possible may to some extent ac
complish the natural cultivation of the
soil in the way worms are accustomed
to do it elsewhere. Miller Chris,
tn, in Nature.