140 THE FARMER AT HOME. 



ingredients enter into combination. Not one of these earths is of 

 itself adapted to cultivation, and where any one is found in excess, 

 sterility is the inevitable result. The best earths, or those best 

 adapted to agriculture, are those that unite the properties most in 

 demand by vegetables, and nearly in the proportion in which they 

 exist in the most valuable plants. There is to be a distinction 

 between earths and soils, though the difference is frequently over- 

 looked or forgotten. The earths are made by the decomposition of 

 the primitive elements of the globe ; this material is converted into 

 soil by the admixture and combination of animal or vegetable matter, 

 and the fertility is usually depending on the proportion in which this 

 is blended with the earths. The earths in some form exist in all 

 plants ; and by reducing them to ashes and submitting them to 

 analysis the proportion and kind of earths may be ascertained. 



EARWIG. There is an insect of this name, so called because 

 it is supposed to insinuate itself into the ears of persons who incau- 

 tiously sleep among grass where it is found. It is troublesome in 

 Europe, but rarely found in the United States. It is extremely 

 doubtful whether the animal intentionally enters the ear; and, 

 indeed, there is no reason whatever that it should, except from mere 

 accident. 



EARTHWORM. This worm is the common angle worm of the 

 fisherman ; though apparently of little consequence to the agriculturist, 

 is in some places found in such numbers as to prove somewhat of a 

 nuisance. It is generally most abundant in moist lands, or in gardens 

 that are heavily manured, and their presence may readily be known 

 by observing the earth after rains, when numerous openings will be 

 found, each accompanied by a small portion of earth apparently 

 forced upward from the opening. There is a difference as to the effect 

 they produce on the soil. Some have supposed they impoverish it by 

 absorbing the nutriment that sustains the plant, although there is no 

 proof that they feed directly on the roots>. The opinion of others is 

 that these worms benefit the soil by loosening it. If desired, they can 

 be destroyed by lime or salt. 



EAST. The point in the hea v ens where the sun is seen to rise 

 at the equinox, or when it is in the equinoctial, or the corresponding 

 point on the earth; one of the four cardinal points. The east and 

 the west are the points where the equator intersects the horizon. 

 But to persons under the equinoctial line, that line constitutes east 

 and west. 



ECHO. A sound reflected or reverberated to the ear, from some 

 solid body. As the undulatory motion of the air, which constitutes 

 sound, is propagated in all directions from the bounding body, it will 

 frequently happen that the air, in performing its vibrations, will im- 

 pinge against various objects, which will reflect it back, and so cause 

 new vibrations the contrary way. Now, if the objects are so situated 



