affecting the Clover-crops and Pasture-lands. 79 



It has been also recommended, in order " to destroy ant-hills 

 in meadows," to 



" divide them with a sharp spade into four quarters, pare off the turves, and 

 fold them hack ; then dig out the contents of the ant-hill, throwing and 

 spreading them ahout until a hollow he left, in which the rains will collect 

 and, with the frost, destroy the broods ; afterwards return the turves, which 

 will he nearly flat, and make the surface green and even. This " gelding " is 

 most beneficially done between Michaelmas and Christmas for the above 

 reasons, and the grass will be established before the scorching heat of summer 

 can affect it." — Oard. Chron. 



The dew or earth worm, LUMBRICUS TERRESTRIS, is well de- 

 serving the farmer's notice, as it is not only universally distri- 

 buted over his land, but is an active agent in pastures and 

 meadows, in irrigating and manuring the soil, principally by its 

 innumerable burrows and the fine earth which it casts out of 

 them. Worms, like snails and slugs, are hermaphrodite, yet they 

 pair and unite at the rings, embracing each other, the heads pro- 

 truding. They so much resemble living muscle that a large fly 

 named Sarcop/iaga carnaria* {Linn.) has been known to lay its 

 eggs on worms, which hatched and turned to maggots, feeding 

 upon the worms as they would have done on the dead flesh of 

 any animal, and changing, when full-grown, to pupa>, from which 

 flies again emerged. 



Worms lay eggs principally in the spring ; they may be seen 

 coiled up within the pellucid egg ; and when the worms hatch 

 they are about an inch long, but when full-grown they sometimes 

 attain to an extraordinary size, being nearly a foot long, and as 

 thick as a large swan's quill. It is almost needless to observe 

 that worms are usually cylindrical, fleshy, composed of numerous 

 rings, and of a rosy colour, but this varies to whitish or bluish 

 tints in certain soils and localities. The anterior portion is of a 

 livid colour, with a bluish or iridescent gloss, the head being 

 very pointed, and the tail flattened. 



A solution of salt and water will destroy worms, as will also 

 corrosive sublimate, but one of the easiest and most efficacious 

 modes of extirpating worms is to water the land with lime-water. 

 It is, however, said that, while unslaked stone-lime is efficacious, 

 lime oj" chalk has no effect upon them. 



These Reports, which I have now brought to a close, will con- 

 vince every one that the cultivator of the soil has multitudes of 

 enemies to contend with — many of them difficult to detect, from 



* Gard. Chron., vol, vi. p. 275. 



