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Intrepid on her swelling dugs they hung ; 



The foster dam lolled out her fawning tongue : 



They sucked secure, while bending back her head, 



She licked their tender limbs ; and formed them as they fed." 



DRYD. VIRG. &n. viii. 1. 840. G. W. 



LETTER XXXV 



SELBORNE, May 2oth, 1777. 



DEAR SIR, Lands that are subject to frequent inunda- 

 tions are always poor ; and probably the reason may be be- 

 cause the worms are drowned. The most insignificant insects 

 and reptiles are of much more consequence, and have much 

 more influence in the economy of nature, than the incurious 

 are aware of ; and are mighty in their effect, from their mi- 

 nuteness, which renders them less an object of attention ; and 

 from their numbers and fecundity. Earthworms, though in 

 appearance a small and despicable link in the chain of nature, 

 yet, if lost, would make a lamentable chasm. For to say noth- 

 ing of half the birds, and some quadrupeds, which are almost 

 entirely supported by them, worms seem to be the great pro- 

 moters of vegetation, which would proceed but lamely with- 

 out them, by boring, perforating, and loosening the soil, and 

 rendering it pervious to rains and the fibres of plants, by draw- 

 ing straws and stalks of leaves and twigs into it ; and, most of 

 all, by throwing up such infinite numbers of lumps of earth 

 called worm-casts, which, being their excrement, is a fine ma- 

 nure for grain and grass. Worms probably provide new soil 

 for hills and slopes where the rain washes the earth away ; 

 and they affect slopes, probably to avoid being flooded. Gar- 

 deners and farmers express their detestation of worms ; the 

 former because they render their walks unsightly, and make 

 them much work ; and the latter because, as they think, worms 

 eat their green corn. But these men would find that the earth 

 without worms would soon become cold, hard-bound, and void 

 of fermentation, and consequently sterile; and besides, in 

 favor of worms, it should be hinted that green corn, plants, 

 and flowers are not so much injured by them as by many spe- 



