The suburban citizen., 1901-08-31
AN EARTHWORM'G VALUE
TURNS UP THE SOIL AND THUS
HELPS VEGETATION ALONG.

AlANA Il hIlIlME ANAAA hhhNANN''
earthworms crawl across the pave
ments and through the lawn grass.
Then they are most conspicuous but
they may be found any time by dig
eing into the ground. They are ma
ture's lowliest gardeners, and perform
a tremendous amount of work in the
world. Boys think them created for
the particular purposes Of bait 1t
was owing to n boys forgotten jar Of
squirming worms that his family be-
came interested in the creatures, and
the boy himself says that he now feels
like taking off his hat TO every earth
worm that wriggles out Of his way
A two-Quart glass fruit jar was
nearly filed with earthworms and
earth from the back yard The earth
was there to keep the worms comfort
able until fishing time. Company
came into the household. however,
and the boy was not permitted to go
fishing and as the cook was preparing
vegetables for dinner he threw onion
chips and scraps of cabbage into the
receptacle as food for the worms.
They did not appear distressed about
their captivity. and began to make
themselves at home in their new sur
roundings. Both cabbage and onion
were devoured and the long Shiny
creatures set about making burrows
which could be quite plainly traced
through the glass.
When the boy took the jar on his
worm hunt it contained about two
inches of white sand belonging to the
canary birds He had neglected to
throw this away, and black mold and
worms were placed on top. The cook
set the jar on the window sill among
her plants, and, as a matter OF conve-
nience, put dried leaves and twigs
from the flower pots into it. The
worms set to work to keep their small
domain in order. Burrows ran from
top to bottom. The white sand from
the bottom veined the soil to the sur
face. Twigs and leaves were gnawed
into pieces and dragged to the depths,
Some smal chicken bones thrown to
the worms were buried.
A month passed before the boy was
invited to go fishing, and by that time
he could not be induced to part with
his jar of Industrious workers. He
watched others in the garden, sat
down beside their burrows at the edge
of the park walks and made up his
mind that they were too useful to kill
Something else must be found for fish
bait His grandfather tried to con-
vince him that serving as fish bait may
have been one of the uses for which
these worms were created, but the boy
decided differently.
Even superficial study proves that
worms have played an important part
in the worlds history. They turn over
the entire surface of vegetable mold
on the earth every few years. Their
burrows are made in two ways, either
by tunneling and pressing the earth
close to the sides of the tunnel or by
swallowing the earth, literally eating
their way downward, sometimes to
depth of eight feet. They devour the
earth for the food it contains, casting
off the sandy particles upon the sur
face.
Farmers themselves are unaware of |
the aid given them by earthworms,
which keep the soil in constant move
ment. Half-decayed leaves are di- |
gested by them or are dragged into |
their burrows below the surface in |
great quantities. Different strata Of |
soil several feet down are carried up
ward. Old burrows are constantly |
cOllapsing and new ones being made, |
the earth is sifted and exposed to the |
action Of the air.
Bones Of animals, dead insects, shells |
of land mollusks, leaves and twigs are |
buried beneath the castings. They |
prepare the ground for the growth of |
fibrous-rooted plants and for seedlings |
of all kinds by their method of gar |
dening. Darwin says that the earth
was plowed by them long before the
plOw was invented by man.
Though the lowllest order of ami
mails and poorly provided with sense
organs, they are able to distinguish |
between light and darkness, are deaf, |
but have a feeble sense OF smell; are
sensitive to heat and cold and vibra-
tlons, and show a degree of taste by
selecting favorite kinds of leaves for
food and rejecting others
About the mouths of their tunnels
or burrows they heap little piles of
tiny stones. A boy scattered the
stones to a short distance and was in
terested to see the worms crawl out
and carry them back one by one.
They enjoy lying near the surface, and
owing to this pleasure robins and
other birds acquainted with the little
heap of stones or the leafplugged en-
frances know just where to plunge
their bills into the ground to pull up
a fat, wriggling worm. Thousands Of
carthworms meet their death in this
way.
Their industry is not confined to
turning over the soil and benefting
the farmer Some OF the ancient mon
oliths that have been overthrown were
probably undermined by worms Ex-
tensive ruins have been buried by