Evening star., 1901-01-26
WAYS OF THE EARTHWORM.
Interesting Facts About the Small
Boys FavOrfte Fish Bait.

Interesting Facts About the Small
Boys FavOrite Fish Bait.
From the st. Louis Globe Democrat.
Earthworms have reason for being ever
so much more important than to serve as
bait for fishermen. For all their lowly
estate, few creatures have done more for
mankind Earthworms are not merely the
original ploughmen-they have brought
about the condition of the earth's surface
that makes other ploughing possible and
profitable.
feed upon vegetable mold-the layer Of
warm, light, brackish earth resting upon
the subsoil. Save by grace of the earth
worm vegetable mold would exist only in
those places where dead leaves and decay
ing growths generally resolve themselves
into their original elements. The earth
worm, which may be described as an en-
bodied appetite, eats every thing animal
matter. green leaves and dead ones, twigs,
leaf stalks, small stones and earth. The
resduum of all he casts up on the surface
at the rate, throughout pastures and gar
den ground, of some ten tons a year. Con-
tinue the process a hundred years, or even
fifty, and many inches Of fine friable, pro-
ductive soil result.
Beyond all that, their burrows let down
light and air from the subsoil. Sometimes
the burrows run six feet deep. In winter
the worms hibernate In roundish cham
bers at the bottom. The chambers are
lined with very small stones or hard,
rounded seed. dozen worms sleep to-
gether knotted into squirming ball. It
is only 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 a certain percep-
burrows Vibration also Affects them
hence, say the country folk, the wood
cocks habit Of drumming to call them
out Of the ground. Their sense of smell is
acute, and by the help Of it they find their
food, either buried or lying upon the sur
face. AS soon as 1t Is found the worms
drag 1T to the burrow They burrow by
pressure Of their smooth rnged bodies and
The digestive apparatus includes crop and
gizzard. like those Of birds. After the man
ner OF birds, the gizzards are kept supplied
with small stones to serve as millstOnes in
grinding down the food.
The burrows plastered all round with
the finely chewed earth and keep shape
often long after they are untenanted From
the DEAD leaves which make SO large part
acids, which attack and help to dissolve
the rocks buried in the soil. Thus the
earthworms not merely transform the soil
chemically and mechanically, but add to
comes from the disintegration of rocks.
Further, many leaves dragged down into
the burrows are only partly eaten and. de-
caying,- furnish gases which permeate the
soil and react upon its mineral element.
Earthworms are the best allies of those
gentlemen. the antiquaries. 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 the soil beneath Earth
hoEeycombed with burrows sinks in times
OF heavy rain or frost. Thus, in course OF
thousand years, an object may be many
feet under the surface. yet remain 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.