A Note for Farmers.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 11 July 1910, Page 4

A Note for Farmers.

THE r.SKI'TI; KAIaTILWORM. In mm iiiiteresting ease lately lielore the Courts. ;i Sheppy tarmejin lii.s evidence .stated that "'in 185J7 the .sea water came 'over and 'killed some of .lii.s sitock. '1 he -salt waiter killed worms, which provided nitrogen for the nourishment, of the grass, thus a eoar.se grass was produced. Alter the Hood of 18i)7. experts said it would take six years lor the wor.uis to return.; he thought it would take itweuty." There is no doulit that worms perform a very important ameliorating work iu the soil. 'I liev silt the liner from the coarser particles, and mingle the mould with vegetable debris. Darwin made a special study of 'the actions of earthworms, lie calculated that the amount of earth brought to the surface by them was nil/out Ki tons to the acre, eipial to a layer of .1 1*25) of an 'iicli in thickness. Calculating 'JO. 881 > worms to exist in an acre of nasture laud, which is only half as many as a like space iu garden mould is est.'ma ted to contain, raising 10 tons of sciil per acre in a year, it works out Jit -0 ozs. for every worm. The earth without worms would rapidly deteriorate iu fertility and become sterile. As the naturalist Cithert AYbite wrote: "Worms seem to be great promoters oi vegetation, which would proceed but slowly without tliejin, by boring, perloniting, and loosening the soil, and rendering it pervious to rains and the fibres of plants; by drawing stalks and straws of all kinds into it, and, most of all, by throwing up infinite numbers til si ieh In nips of earth." As regards food, the earthworm is omnivorous. It swallows an enormous (|iiaiiity of earth, from which it extracts any digestible matter the earth may contain. It consumes all kinds of lnlf-decayed leaves and Hewers, which are dragged into the mouths of burrows to a depth ol from one to ithree inches, and are prepared by moistening with a. fluid secretion, which quickly deco>mpnse.s fresh leaves. Worms often lie close beneath the mouths of their "burrows especially in the morning, presumably for warmth a habit accounting for their wholesale destruction by the thrushes and blackbirds, which durinti certain seasons may lie seen busy throughout the country on our lawns. "When the ground is dry. owing to winter cold or summer heat, earthworms burrow to :i considerable depth and eras.' ito work. The depth to which it lie worm burrows varies in accordance with dryness of cold, and the thick no.'.'-; of the upper soil. It. has been known to reach a depth ol over six leet. Ordinarilv, however, thev in,ha bit only the superficial mould, which is usually from lour or five lo leu or twelve inches thick.- -Farm. Field and Fireside.