San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-03-18
EARTHWORMS.

The small boy, and the grown-up
set on fishing, little thinks, as he
digs in the rear yard after angle
worms, that the possible number
Of fish which he may catch are in
reality not equal to the value Of
the worms, or in other words, that
the use of the worms exceeds the
money value of the fish. Chas.
Darwin, the great English nat
uralist, wrote a whole book on
earthworms, and all who have
studied the little creature, aside
from its utility in putting it upon
a fishing hook, have been aston
ished at it's great use in the house
hold Of nature.
| was reminded of this few
mornings ago when | noticed the
hills of rich earth scattered over
the ground, so close together that
L could not put my foot anywhere
without stepping upon them, and
these were nothing but the de-
posits Of worms. Only think what
all this means to the gardener and
the husbandman. For the little
worm is natures underground
scaveDger. Earthworms live ex-
clusively upon decayed vegetation.
Dead roots, sticks, leaves, in short,
anything and everything in the line
of dead plants forms the subject Of
attack by earthwOrms, which in
this way hasten decay and in
crawling from one part Of the field
to another, distribute the vegeta-
BILE mould in every direction. AS
the worm eats daily great deal
more than its own weight and il
one considers that in many fields
there are several worms to the
cubic foot of surface soil, the pro-
cess of soil assimilation which
takes place by this Intervention is
beyond calculation. But the
earthworm serves even another
use, namely that Of perforating as
well as fertilizing the soil. Miles
and miles Of underground passages
running in every conceivable di-
rection in your little garden patch,
making the earth more ready alb
sOrbent for rain-paving the way
for the roots of plants and at the
same time giving ventilation to
the soil for it has been proven now
that roots need ventilation as well
as water, all this as the result OF
creature which, proverbally is
tramped under the foot Of ignorant
and thoughtless man.
1t has also been proven in late
years, that many OF the tibrouS
roots Of trees and shrubs are an
finals, and that alter these die it
becomes necessary that they
should hastely disappear so as to
avoid the decay from touching
healthy portions Of the root. Here
then the earthworm becomes the
natural guardian and protector OF
the trees.
Earthworms therefore, although
they belong to very low order in
animal life, as far as their utility
goes rank very high indeed, so low
are they in the animal scale that
like many plants they will grow
from cuttings as well as from eggs.
Cut one in two and while the tail
end grows a new head the head
end grows a new tail and its USE
| fulness is doubled. 1t is said that
there were no earthworms in
America at the time Of it's discov-
cry, but that the were introduced
here in flower pots, with nursery
stock, etc, etc, and now they have,
like many other attachments to
our civilization, established their
| quarters all over our vast, country
to help the American husbandman,
hOrticulturist and gardener in
their arduOus labors to wrest a
living from the soil. And last, but
not least to be taken by the small
boy and stuck upon the fishing
hook to wait squirmingly for the
weary perch in the crystal brook,