LETTER XXXV 



TO THE SAME 



SELBORNE, May 20, 1777. 



DEAR SIR, Lands that are subject to frequent inunda- 

 tions are always poor ; and probably the reason may be 

 because the worms are drowned. The most insignificant 

 insects and reptiles are of much more consequence, and 

 have much more influence in the ceconomy of Nature, 

 than the incurious are aware of; and are mighty in their 

 effect, from their minuteness, which renders them less an 

 object of attention ; and from their numbers and fecundity. 

 Earth-worms, though in appearance a small and despicable 

 link in the chain of Nature, yet, if lost, would make a 

 lamentable chasm. For to say nothing of half the birds, 

 and some quadrupeds which are almost entirely supported 

 by them, worms seem to be the great promoters of vegeta- 

 tion, which would proceed but lamely without them, by 

 boring, perforating, and loosening the soil, and rendering 

 it pervious to rains and the fibres of plants, by drawing 

 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 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. 1 Gardeners and farmers express their detestation 



1 Sir Willian Jardine's note is as follows : " We scarcely agree with White's 

 proposition here : grass lands are very much benefited by frequent inundations. 

 That worms are great fertilisers there can be no doubt, but at the same time in all 

 cases they are not beneficial, as for instance in flower-pots or boxes where plants 



