The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1956-03-30
THE lOWLY EARTHWORM
NOW BECOMES IMPORTANT
Both Fishing and Farming Give Him
Special Consideration As Spring
Comes On.

S0UeS VII
Washington.-Again with spring
at hand, people turn to the earth
worm as lure. for fish and a
fertilizer of gardens.
Sometimes called fishworms,
angleworms, nightcrawlers, dew
worms and rain worms, the multi
tudinous wigglers have served
mankind since antiquity, the Ma
tional Geographic Society says.
Cleopatra guarded the rich Nile
Valley worms as a state secret.
Naturalist Charles Darwin doubted
whether there are many other
animals which have played so i'm
portant part in the history of
the world as have these lowly or
ganized creatures" Others have
called them the worlds first
plowmen, chemists, irrigation sys-
TENS and fertilizer factories.
From burrows lacing the soil,
the worms venture to the surface
at night to feed on decaying plants
and other organic material. Some
times they drag the provender I'M
foreground to eat at leisure. The
digested product is a black SUBJ
stance called earthworm castings,
a powerful natural fertilizer. Some
authorities say that fruit and
vegetables grown in such enriched
soil have more flavor and often
greater size.
PrOdigious Workers
The worms burrows help the
earth to hold air and moisture.
Upward of $4,000 earthworms in
habit each acre, Darwin estimated.
Over Is tons of soil per acre may
be brought to the surface each year
by the untiring "cultivators."
Earthworms came into CONNER
cial Importance in recent years.
An Ohio fishing-tackle firm re-
Gently ordered 100000 lobworms
Qugworms that burrow in sandy
places) from England. Millions of
Egyptian worms have been export
ed to the United States to fertilize
soils. A Washington, D. c., fishing
lobbyist decided to raise a few
for his personal use, later to find
himself in the earthworm business
with an inventory of 100000
worms.
An Arlington, Va, resident some
years ago treated his barren back
yard with earthworm castings.
Today, tomato vines climb almost
to the caves of his bungalow. His
flowers are the envy of his neigh
bors.
A New York City student earned
his way through college selling
worms to anglers. A "worm farm"
near Hereford, England, sold more
than 100000 specimens between
last June and September to fish
ermen seeking trout, perch, roach
and grayling. The redder worms
are, anglers say, the more attrac-
tive they are to fish.
To satisfy increasing demands,
worms often are packed in tins
with preparations that feed and
them from undue heat
and cold. Tins for individual h'~-
ermen may contain only a hundred
specimens. Huge commercial slllp
ments for fishing interests and
agriculturists move by truck or
rain.
Worms As Food
Earthworms live in all parts of |
he world where conditions are
,avorable. They have been found
1t 10,000-foot elevations in the |
Andes Mountains. In Australia
worms sometimes grow 10 feet
ong as compared to the 10-inch
vhopper of the United States.
Some peoples, including the
Maoris of New Zealand, use
worms for food.
Twin-tailed African earthworms
have been raised at the New York
Geological Park as feed for duck
billed platypuses. The double-tail-
ID kind occurs perhaps once among
every 500 of the creatures. One of
the worms, outdoing its own kin
ifedJ showed sdp With three tails.