Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1922-08-31
u,bi,s of the Angleworm-

- N-t IN >Pl'~ W
ga Lr.--,. creature is wise in its way.
tn' -. enough to find food and
Il 9Th in winter and summer.
s'.' -. osten wondered where the
.o-7ls 90 in winter. Naturally
''" ND think they go deep into the
0"' .i lslov the frost line, but for
,-e,sworms it would be imposs-
NJ, On down so deep. In our north
~, .,,s, the soil often freezes to a
- . four or five feet, which
80 - several feet into hard clay or
~. ~, ,gssoil, in which the worms can
not eurrow.
Is.. fall. on November 7th, | dug up
q,uar-beds, and found many
s,,,huo-rs, in the black surface soil,
=. another occasion dug up late in
~ .-- Subs and roots in clump OF
dead wild sunaowers, Here also |
t,r,4 many angleworms, which had
...,se4 themselves as they do in dry
-,.ba- for the autumn had been dry.
49, worms. it seemed quite clear,
I'D allow themselves to freeze in
.;,,.- and would come to life again in
..,;,c And | think that in this way
~, e4-thwormS survive the winter.
Pr, If worm freezes on the surface
=, .bs Ground. it is really killed.
Every fisherman has had difficulty
:, find angleworms in spell Of dry
weather in midsummer. Dig as he
-,;obt in the sweat of his brow, the
worms had left all their old haunts.
n reality the worms are fooling the
fisherman. They are still in their old
taurts. bun they have made themselves
Invisible in a case of earth, a sort OF
,,'isman. as poets call it. In this
c,se thew are neatly coiled up, await
;nq the call of the clouds. But they
have also gone deeper, eighteen inches
o- Two feet below the surface, and un-
less one is aware of this, and knows
,he trick Of the talsman, he may delve
and dig an hour and not find an angle
worm.
Strange as it NAV sound, there are
M anplcwOrmS in the wilderness. !
have looked for them in every wild
place where | have pitched my tent.
in Minnesota. Wisconsin, on Isle Roy
ale. on Lake of the Woods, in the can
vons of the Bad Lands of South Da-
kota but never did | find an angle
worm
Oh rapperS and woodsmen to
whom have talked tell the same story.
"There are no angleworm in the will
derness." they all claim, "unless some
body planted them, or brought them
in Nv accident" | have often wonder
ed if Darwin was aware of this fact,
when he wrote his great work on the
earthworm
| an not quite prepared to make the
sweeping assertion that there were orig
inaly no native earthworms in the
whole North American wilderness, but
in the parts where have camped they
are so scarce, if there are any at all,
that the fishermen cannot find them
The only place where | ever found what
seemed to be a small earthworm was
In an old beaver dam in the Iaska For
est but This was near place where
White men had logged and camped.
There are trout streams in the North
Woods along whose banks angleworms
may be found, but these are streams
mat have been fshed by white men
Tor many years, and the worms have
been Intentionally or accidentally
planted.
Ihe earihWorm is one of natures
Iany-day children, which means that
Will tTavc. and move about only in
Wet weather In fact, an earthworm
cannot cross dry or dusty road or
path
'"'F 'a'-- me to crawl about,
o'sy'ng ,a. ..iast Of spreading over
VIC S'''a' IS on q rainy night in spring
81. S''Ha-r After such a night, their
Ha"s may he found on every bare
t-''' OF Tine a1i or mud near lawns
AMI gardens rr...,. .l,, -,I -,