THE WORK OF WORMS

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 16, 19 January 1924, Page 16

THE WORK OF WORMS

TREMENDOUS CULTIVATORS.

Farmers in many districts have now begun to plough their land again in preparation for the next; crop. But for thousands of years before man appeared on the, earth the soil was continuously ploughed by earthworms. It is which makes the food stared up in the soil available for the animal kingdom. Apart from the beneficent labours of earthworms^ plants, in their turn, would be powerless to .-get "a living from the land. , ' Observations made in Yorubaland, on the West Coast of Africa, on the same lines as those of Darwin, have shown that earthworms can bring 62,233 tons of soil per equare mile to the surface annually. In 27 years every particle of soil to a depth of two feet is so treated, and thus secures the benefits ' of being exposed to the influence of light and air. ■ . Darwin's own observations show that earthworms are able to raise the subsoil to the surface at'the rate of from 144 t°ns to 18 tons per acre each year. The bacteria of the soil are thus brought into contact with the atmosphere, and great benefit results. In an acre of good soil there are" probably between 50,000 and 500,000' earthworms. In 15 years they will have added 15 inches to the depth of the The burrows made in the course of their operations are of great service in making it possible for the roots of plants as well as air and moisture, to penetrate tlie soil. In the bodies of earthworms the soil is ground very fine. In consequence of this, tiny rootlets are much better able to absorb nutriment from it. It .is said that the mills in which the soil is so treated are the most important in. the world. If they did .not do their r work there would be little for the more pretentious miils to" perform. Earthworms also play their part in the disintegration of rocks. They let the. solvent humus-acids of the soil down to the buried surfaces, upon which they can then act freely. All the wide turf« covered expanses that we possess have been levelled in the course of ages ijy these humble creatures.