Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1901-07-25
THEY KEEP THE UPPER STRATA
MOVING.
AN IMPORTANT FUNCTION
Fart Played in Worlds History by
undermining of Ruins Is Pointed
Out-Nature's Lowliest Gardeners
Their Work Has Proved of Vast
y Benefit.


Then they are most conspicuous but
they may be found any time by dig
ging into the ground. They are ma
lures lowliest gardeners, and perform
q tremendous amount of work in the
world.A Boys think them created for
The particular purposes of bait. 1t
was owing to 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 his hat off to every earth
worm that wriggles out of his way.
Astwo-quart glass fruit jar was
nearly filled with earthworms and
earth from the back yard. The earth
s was theie to keep the worms COM
\ Portable until fishing time. Company
came into the household, however, and
the boy was not permitted to go fish,
ing, and as the cook was preparing
4 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 gu :
rcundings. Both cabbage and onion
were devoured, and the long, Shiny
& creatures set about making burrows
which could be quite plainly traced
through the glass.
IA 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 matter of con-
venience 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.
Se"le small 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 q
depths of eight feet They devour
the earth for the food it contains, cast
ing off the sandy particles upon the
surface.
1.-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 col
! lapsing and new ones being made, the
earth is sifted and exposed to the ac-
tier. 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 al kinds by their
methods of gardening. Darwin says
that the earth was plowed by them
long before the plow was invented by
man.
Though of the lowliest order of ami
mails and poorly provided with sense
organs, they are able to distinguish be-
tween light and darkness; are deaf,
but have feeble sense of smell; are
sensitive to heat and cold and vibra-
lions, and show 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
Y short distance and was interested
to see the worms crawl out and carry
them back, one by one. They enjoy ly.
ing near the surface, and owing to this
pleasure robins and other birds &C
ouainted with the little heap of stones
or the leaf-plugged entrances know
inst where to plunge their bills into
the ground to pull up fat, wriggling
worm. Thousands of earthworms
meet their death in this way
Measurements taken near Nice, IN
France. show that fourteen tons OF
soil are annually brought to the sur
face of a single acre of land by these
silent workers. In the chalk district
of England the average was eighteen
tons to the acre, and on an old. well
rolled. grass-grown terrace sixteer
tons. The Roman city Of Uriconium
paau1;eu Abbey and various othel