Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1907-02-23

All animals benefit the land by manur-
Ing IL. and tho deposits OF guano re-
main today as our most valuable fer.
tlizers, the bones and bodies of ani-
mails likewise enrich the soil. In addi-
ton to these dement's. %burrowing AMI
mails plow the land for mans advan.
tage, draining II. adding leaves, grass
and remnants OF their fo~od-acorns
nuts. grains. etc. They aid Ia the dis
indignation OF rocks Into soil. The
soil Is Hike a film of dust spread over an
Immense. solid rock, for the soil is only
q few feet, the crust OF the earth at
least hundreds OF miles IN thickness
ana composed OF solid rock. beneath
which Is the vast and u-nexplored IN
terror. Rain and air are admitted into
The SOL and rock by the burrows VI
animals; and these agencies cause tho
decay and crhmbllng Of both these ma
terials.
GoPHERs AND PRAIRIE DOGS.
The ground squirrels Of our own conn
try hurrow and lay IN stores for lie
winter. They live IN villages and thus
pillow UP acres at n time, The chm
mupk makes extensive excavations In
proportion TO Its size, and lines is
nest with leaves and grass. storing In
one burrow a quart OF nuts, a neck Of
acorns. two quarts of grain and smaller
quantities OF other vegetable food.
The prairie dogs, whose villages coVer
many square miles. undermine the
ground with their burrows. and ex-
pose the soil to the fertilizing aeen-
cles OF weatherIns. The gopher, too,
takes possession OF certain prairies. al
most to the exclusion Of other nimal
and ~honeycombs the ground In some
places for hundreds OF square miles.
Each lives In a burrow OF his own and
there are separate burrows for the
storage Of winter food.
WORK OF BEETLES.
1t might not be suspected that the
smaller animals have any part In this
Industry Of preparing tho LAND for
tillage. But even the beetles contrib
ute TO the total result. They cover
decayins animal exoretions with soil
which they bring up from the earth,
and thereby provide q suitable, well
MANFRED bed In which grasses and GER
tain flowers may thrive. The Dumbie
Dor beetle, instead OF bringing up earth
TO cover the droppines of animals. sets
10 work 10 remove them altogether.
1t carries down into the grass roots
! as much as II can In n hole a foot deep
, and there lays egg, Then It era wis
up again for more, and so continues.
80 ''N1AAN or VI 1W u Tvs DNTToNb
have been counted In one square foot.
Beetles OF the carrion order are plenti-
ful In temperate countries. Some Of
them bury the bodies of small dead
animals, In which t0 lay their eggs,
Some species Of burying beetles are
found almost everywhere, working
sometimes singly, sometimes in COM
panies, wherever they find dead bodies,
scraping away the earth from beneath
the carcass and then covering II up.
Then they lay their eggs IN It. One
beetle has been known to bury q mole
40 times its own weight. while four
together ave been seen burying q
CROW. Four beetles which were kept
and watched for 30 days buried in that
time four frogs, three small birds. tive
fish, n mole, two Grasshoppers. the
entrails of a fish. and two pieces OF
OK liver" Such beetles are not found
in tropical plains and deserts where ths
heat quickly dries up the flesh OF dead
animals; but In the temperate regions
where most needed, there they mos
! abound.