The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-01-06
WAYS OF THE EARTHWoRM.
Interesting Facts About the Small
Boys Fnyorite Fish Bait.

Earthworms have 4 reason for being
ever so much more important than to
serve as bait for fisherman. For all their
iowly estate. few creatures have done
more for mankind. Earthworms are not
merely the original plowmen-they have
brought about the condition of the earth's
surface that makes other blowing posi-
Bile and profitable.
Field crops, for tho most part. grow
and feed upon vegetable mold-the layer
OF warm, light, bracklsh earth resting
upon the subsOll. Save by grace OF the
earthworm vegetable mold would exist
and decaying growths generally resolved
themselves into their original clements
The earthworm, which may be described
as an embodied appetite. eats everything
animal matter, green leaves and dead
ones, twlgs, leaf stalks. small stones and
earth. The residuum OF all he casts up
on the surface al the rate, throughout
pastures and garden ground, of some ten
tons a year. Continue the process hun
dred years or even fifty and mary inches
Of fine. friable. productive soil result.
Beyond all that their burrows let down
light and air from the subsoll Some
times the burrows run six feet deep. In
winter the worms hibernate in roundish
chambers at the bottom. The chambers
are lined with very small stones or hard.
rounded seed. A dozen worms sleep to-
gether, knotted into squirming ball. II
is emily in the winter sleep that they are
thus gregarious. At other times they 20
in pairs. Though they do not in captivity
appear very sensible of either cold or
heat, In hot, dry weather they go almost
as far down as they do in winter.
Eyeless. they have yet certain per-
ception Of light. retreatIng before It TO
their burrows Vibration also affects
them-hence. say the country folk. the
woodcock's habit Of drumming to call
them out of the ground. Their sense OF
smell is acute. and by the help OF IL they
find their food. either buried or lying
upon the surface. As socn as It IS found
the worms drag It to the burrow. They
burrow by pressure Of their smooth ringed
bodies and by literally eating cut the
earth ahead. The digestive apparatus in
cludes a crop and glzzard. like those Of
birds After the manner Of birds. the
gizzards are kept supplied with small
stones to serve as millstoaes In grinding
down the food.
The burrows arc plastered all round
with the finely chswed earth and keep
shape often long after they are unten-
arted. From the dead leaves which make
so large q part Of their food the worms
secre;e humus acids which attack and help
to dissolve the rocks buried In the soil.
Thus the earthwoTms not merely trans
form tho soil chemically and mechanically.
but add TO the bulk of it-since soil OF
every Kind comes from the dislntegration
az rocks Further many leaves dragged
down into the burrows are only partly
eaten. and. decaying furnish gases which
permeate the soil and react upon It's min
eral element.
Earthworms are the best allies Of those
gentlemen. The anliquarics. a coin. an ar
row head. a spear point. an inscribed slab.
& tesselated pavement they bury surely.
safely. to await the day OF resurrection.
The burying IS done In two ways-by cast
ings spread above the thing to be buried,
and by undermining tho soil beneath.
Earth honeycombed with burrows. sinks
in times OF heavy rain or frost Thus IN
course of a thousand years. an object may
be many fact under the surface. vet re-
main exactly as 1t fell. Indeed. the wise
men declare the earthworms, in the mass.
keep the Whole face Of the planet in
state of gradual evolution.