THE EARTHWORM. 345 



find them on the surface a mucilaginous mass ; and 

 their retiring deeper in the soil is no bad indication 

 of approaching cold weather : but no sooner is the 

 frost out of the earth, than they approach the sur- 

 face to feed on decayed vegetable matter. Greatly 

 beneficial as these creatures are, by drawing leaves 

 and decayed matters into the earth, where their 

 dissolution is accomplished, yet they are sad tor- 

 mentors to us gardeners, and occasion the loss of 

 more young plants than even the slug, by drawing 

 in the leaf, which throws out the root ; so that in 

 the morning we find our nursling inverted. It is 

 the same propensity, or ordination, for removing de- 

 cayed matters that influences them in these actions ; 

 as they are the faded leaves that are seized by them, 

 such as newly-removed plants present before the 

 root draws nutriment from the earth. Even stones 

 of some magnitude are at times drawn over their 

 holes. The horticulturist, perhaps, encounters more 

 mortification and disappointment than any other 

 labourer upon the earth from insects, elementary 

 severity, the slug, and the worm ; yet, if the de- 

 predations of this last creature do at times excite 

 a little of our irascibility, we must still remember 

 the nightly labours, and extensive services, that are 

 performed for the agriculturist by this scavenger of 

 the earth, and manurer of the soil. 



Besides, worms are essentially useful in draining 

 our lands from superfluous moisture, which in 

 many cases, without their agency, would be de- 

 tained upon or near the surface of the earth, chilling 



