EARTHY MANURES. 



EDDER. 



lumps of earth, called worm-casts, which being; 

 their excrement, is a fine manure 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. Gardeners 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 

 they would find that the earth without worms 

 would soon become cold, hard-bound, and void 

 of fermentation, and consequently sterile ; and 

 besides, in favour of worms it should be hinted 

 that green corn, plants, and flowers are not so 

 much injured by them as by many species of 

 Colcoptera (scarabs') and Tipulce (long-legs) in 

 their larvae or grub state, and by unnoticed 

 myriads of small shell-less snails, called slugs, 

 which silently and imperceptibly make amaz- 

 ing havoc in the field and garden. Worms 

 work most in the sprint:, and are out every 

 mild night in the winter: they are very pro- 

 lific." (Quart. Journ. of Agr. vol. ii. p. 145.) 

 Worms are readily destroyed by the applica- 

 tion of common salt, sown broadcast at the 

 rate of five or six bushels per acre ; or on grass 

 plats, by the application of lime-water, or ra- 

 ther milk of lime, which is readily made by 

 stirring for ten minutes a pound of hot lime in 

 four or five pailsful of water. But, for the 

 reasons already given, they should not be de- 

 stroyed. Earth-worms are viviparous, their 

 eggs are hatched in the body, and the young 

 are expelled alive. They generally come out 

 of the earth during the night in June to copulate. 

 EARTHY MANURES. These are the most 

 universal of all fertilizers. In England they 

 are chiefly limited to three, viz. chalk and lime, 

 clay or alumina, sand or silex. In the United 

 States, where no chalk is found, its place is well 

 supplied by lime and calcareous marls, which 

 last, in New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and 

 Virginia, are used to the greatest advantage 

 by farmers. Then again the green sand or 

 silicate of potash, found in the states men- 

 tioned, proves, in many situations, a powerful 

 mineral fertilizer. With these may be classed 

 the coal, or other ashes produced by the com- 

 bustion of peat, turf, and other vegetable sub- 

 stances, the composition of which is usually 

 similar to that of the soils on which the com- 

 bustible matter is produced. Ashes from chalk- 

 soils usually abound in carbonate of lime and 

 gypsum, which is produced in the chalk by the 

 gradual decomposition of the iron pyrites 

 which most chalk contains ; while those from 

 clay lands as generally abound with alumina and 

 sand. Those which are brought from the sea- 

 shore almost always contain a considerable 

 quantity of soda, and some common salt. There 

 are no researches more likely te amply repay 

 the cultivator than the investigation of the 

 composition of his soils. All the difference 

 between a fertile soil and the poorest cultivated 

 land consists in the presence of the indispen- 

 sable constituents of a soil in proportions that 

 are more or less profitable. The addition of 

 the desired substance, whether organic or in- 

 organic, constitutes the fertilizing ingredient. 

 Davy long since remarked that " Fertility \ 



seems to depend upon the state of division and 

 mixture of the earthy materials and the vege- 

 table matter. In ascertaining the composition 

 of fertile soils, with a view to their improve- 

 ment, any particular ingredient which is the 

 cause of their unproductiveness should be par- 

 ticularly attended to ; if possible, they should 

 be compared with fertile soils in the same 

 neighbourhood, and in similar situations, as 

 the difference of composition may, in many 

 cases, indicate the most proper methods of im- 

 provement." (Agricultural Chemistry, p. 203.) 

 Thus, either peat, or chalk, or clay is an excel- 

 lent permanent addition to sandy soils. Chalk 

 and sand improve the texture and productive- 

 ness of clays. To peat, the earths are all more 

 or less permanent fertilizers ; lime removes the 

 excess of sulphate of iron (green vitriol) ; 

 chalk is equally efficacious in what the farmer 

 calls acid or sour soils. This class of manures 

 differs from the organic and saline, in this 

 highly important yet seldom sufficiently re- 

 membered quality, that as they are more fre- 

 quently employed in larger quantities than 

 either of the other two, so their beneficial in- 

 fluence on the soil far exceeds in duration all 

 others. 



EARWIG (Forficula auricularis, Linn.). A 

 well-known insect, which is common in damp 

 places, and often found in numbers under 

 stones, and beneath the bark of trees. They 

 do much damage in gardens, by preying upon 

 the fruit. The English common name, and 

 also the French pierce-oreille, relate to a habit 

 absurdly attributed to these insects, of pene- 

 trating the ears. (Brande's Diet, of Art.) 



It is a curious fact that the earwig sits upon 

 her eggs like a hen ; and when the young are 

 hatched, they creep under the mother, like a 

 brood of chickens under a hen. De Geer, 

 who has observed the habits of this insect, 

 says, the parent will sit over them for hours. 

 She usually carries them about on her back, 

 until they are able to provide for themselves. 

 One of the species of forficula, namely, F. 

 minor, has wings, and flies in groups. 



They are very injurious to flowers, eating 

 holes in the blossoms, and otherwise disfigur- 

 ing them, particularly the dahlia: and Mouflet 

 says that "ox hoofs, hog's hoofs, or old cats 

 things are used as traps for them by the Eng- 

 lish women, who hate them exceedingly, be- 

 cause of clove-gilliflowers that they eat and 

 spoyl." It is common with English gardeners 

 to hang up, among the flowers and fruit-trees 

 subject to their attacks, pieces of hollow reeds, 

 lobster claws, and the like, which offer en- 

 ticing places of retreat for these insects on the 

 approach of daylight, and by means thereof 

 great numbers of them are obtained in the 

 morning. The little creeping animal, with 

 numerous legs, commonly, but erroneously, 

 called earwig in America, is not an insect; 

 but of the true earwig we have several spe- 

 cies, though they are by no means common, 

 and certainly never appear in such numbers 

 as to prove seriously injurious to vegetation. 

 (Harris's Treat, of Insects.) 



EDDER. A small straight shoot of ash, 

 hazle, oak, or any other kind of flexible wood, 

 ured for binding the tops of hedges. 



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