The public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1913-1968, 1921-11-16
WORM Is CALLED
MANS SUPERIOR
Humble Borrowers Make Earth Fer.
tile - without Them We
Would Die.

lhere lsn l scientist IN the world
who does not agree that If the earth
worm was destroyed the world would
become sterile and the people of this
world would be starving in seven
years. He is the one necessary crea-
ture in Gods world. He fertilizes the
land and covers the bare rocks with
earth. He is the surest friend of man
kind that we know"
These amazing statements are made
by n character in "The Man Who
Hated Earthworms," published in an
English magazine.
The whole world barren but for the
action Of the humble earthworm! An
astonishing statement; yet It is no
exaggeration.
Without them the whole earth would
be a dreary, lifely expanse of rocks,
gravel, sand and clay. The only in
habitants Of the world would be the
fish an dother water creatures.
Such was the case millions of years
ago, when, first Of all creatures, the
worms crawled out from the seas to
try existence upon dry land.
The great popularity of the worm is
that he eats his way underground,
filling his body with small particles
from which he is able to extract nour-
ishment in very wonderful way. ITe
has a gizzard much like that of tn n
fowl and in It he makes use of small
hard stones, just as the fowl does. to
act as grinders. The result is that the
particles which pass in through his
mouth are soon ground to the fincsi
powder, from which his intestines cv-
tract al 1.-The food that his body needs
When the grinding and digestive
processes are complete, he returns r.
the surface and discharges IN tho
form Of the familiar worm-cast all To
matter that is useless for food
Thus every worm is a tiny livir =
mill, constantly engaged in grindin"
up clay and sand until they are fine
enough to become soil. Vegetable
matter must be mixed with them, AM
this again the worm does for us.
You have probably often noticed e"
leaf sticking out Of the burrow wh'"h
a worm has made in lawn or =
flower-bed. This Is the door of h's
home; he likes to plub his hole n
this way.
If you move the soil very careful"
YOU will find portions Of other loo"c
which he has dragged underground -
eat.
Before making his meal he softens
the leaf by means of juice which he
secretes: then he devours 1t, eating at
the same time quantities of earth. Tho
cast which he subsequently leaves on
the surface of the ground consists not
of sand or of clay alone, but Of a mix
ture of these and vegetable matter: II
is true soil.
| Once soil has been made it must be
turned over frequently, or 1t grows
sour. That is why we dig our gardens
and plough our fields. Ages before
man invented the spade or the plough,
the humble worm was filling the soil,
keeping 1t sweet, and making It rich
er and more fertile.
In gardens there are about $4,000
worms to each acrce, while in the
fields every acre contains about 10000
of them.
BY collecting and carefully weigh
ing al 1.-The casts thrown up on a meas
ured piece Of ground over long per-
iod, Darwin arrived at the amazing
result that worm-casts raise the level
of the whole land one-fifth of an inch
a year.
More wonderful still, the labors Of
worms throw up no less than ten tons
of soil in the form Of casts on each
acre Of land during single year. In
a small five-acrce field the worm pop
ulation brings to the surface no less
than fifty carloads Of the finests oil
in twelve months.
The most important of all creatures,
then, is the lowly worm, on whose la
bors al 1.-The rest depend for their food.
II he we're TO die out, the whole
earth would. in short space Of time,
become a great silent, lifeless Sahara.