OF SELBORNE. 15 



promoters of vegetation, which would pro- 

 ceed but lamely without them, by boring, 

 perforating, and loosening the soil, and ren- 

 dering 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. 

 Gardeners and farmers express their detes- 

 tation 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 com* 

 But these men would find that the earth 

 without worms would soon become cold, 

 hard-bound, and void of fermentation ; and 

 consequently steril : 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 



