Arizona republican., 1901-02-22
WAYS OF THE EARTHWORM.
Interesting Facts About the Smal
 Boy's Fdvoritc Fish Bait.


 Edrthwprms have d reason for being ever SO much more important than to serve as bait for Nshesmen For all
 their loWly estate few creatures have done more for mankind. EarthWorms are not merely th- original ploWmen
 they have brough, abou, the condition of ,he ,artl's surfl." that makes oth- or blowing possible and profitable.
 Field crops, f F the most part, grow and feed upon vegetable muld-the lay rr of warm light ,bracllish earth rest ing upon the sub-soi. Save by graD of the carthworm v,gUah,e mold would exist only in thoe places where dead leaves and isr1yins groWths generally resolve tn mS-lVes into their original clements. The ,arthW rm. which may be described as an embodied appetite
 eats everything animal matter. green leav and dead on $. tWigs leaf stalks. small g' ucS and earth The residuum If all he casts up on tho surface at th, rate, throughout pastures and garden ground. of some t,n t.ns d year. Con- tinue ,a. rro. g. a hundred y,urs. OF even fifty and many inches of fine fri able. productive soil results.
 Boy nd all that, heir burrows let down light and air from the sUb-s ail. Some times the burrows run six feet deep Tn winter the worms hibernlt. in roundish chambers at the bottom. The chama rs are lined with very small stones OF hard. rounded seed. \ dozen worms sleep together, kuotted intD a SIurmiug ball. IT is ,nly in the winter sleep that they are thus grega- F.. us. Al other times thoy go in pairs. Though th Y do not in captivity ap- pear to bp very sensible to heat or cold. in hot, dry weather they go almost as far down as they do in the winter
 tycless, they have yet a certain per crption light, retrcating before it 10 their burrows. Vibration also affects them-henCe, say he country folk. the Wlodcock's habit of drumming to call them out of the ground. Their sense If smell is acute. and by the help of it they find Their food, either buried or lying upon the surface. As soon as it Is found the worms drag il to the our TOW. They burrOW by pressure of their sm roth ringcd bodies and by literally eating out tn" earth ah ad. The di- gestivc apparatus includes d crop and gizZard, like those of birds. After the manner of birds, the gizzards are keI4 supplied with small stones to serve as millston,s in grinding down the food
 The burrows are plastcred all round with tho finely chowgd earth and keep shape often long after they are untcn- anted. From tn dead leaves which make so larg" part If their food Chc worms secrete humus acids, which at tack and help to dissolve the rocks buEed r the soil. jI'lus the earth worms not merely transform the soil chemically and mechanically, but add 10 the bulk of it-sincc soil of every kind comes from the disnteGrlNion Of rocks. Further, many leaves dragged down into the burrows are only partly eaten and, dccaying, furnish gases which perm ate the sUl and react upon it's mineral element.
 EarthWorms are the best allies of those gentlemen, the antiquaries. A coin. an arrow head, q spear p0int. an Inscribed slab, tess lated pavement, ] they bury, surely safely. to await the | day uf resurrection The burylng is |, done in two Ways-by castings spread | above the thing tG be buried. and by | undermining the soil beneath. Earth | hon yrombed Wiih burrows sinks in | times of heavy rain or frost. Thus i'm ! course of thousand years, an object | may b. many f,et under tac surface, | yet remain exactly as it fell. Indeed, the wise men declare the earthworms, in the mass, keep the whole face of the plant in state of gradual evolution.