52 



The Great World's Farm 



But what, it may be asked, can crabs do? They bur- 

 row, for one thing; and they make their homes so close 

 together, that as many as a hundred and twenty of these 

 narrow, corkscrew holes have been counted in a space 

 only two feet square, so that the ground is very thoroughly 

 perforated indeed. And they not only burrow, but are 

 incessantly busy carrying down twigs, bits of seaweed, 

 scraps of coconut shell, seeds, and so forth, with the 

 object of making themselves comfortable, it is to be sup- 

 posed, and yet it almost seems as if they labored, some of 

 them, in this industrious way simply and solely for the 

 sake of improving the soil. 



One of these crabs works so near the water that its 

 burrows are covered at high tide; another works a little 

 further in, and a third further still, where the mud is dry; 

 but what is curious about this last is that as soon as the 

 white, chalky mud has been turned into dark vegetable 

 soil, which it is by the decay of the various things dragged 

 into it, at once the crab goes off to another fresh spot, 

 and begins all its work over again. Perhaps it does not 

 like decayed vegetable matter; but the result is that it is 

 always at work, and must get through a good deal of 

 digging in the course of its life. 



Beetles, again, are most useful workers, almost all the 

 world over, and on some of the wild hill slopes of Ireland 

 all the patches of good grass are said to be their work. 

 Cows are kept on these wastes, and are attended by num- 

 bers of large beetles. Three or four of these together set 

 to work at a patch of cow-dung, burrowing into the soil 

 beneath, and bringing up little heaps of clay until they 

 have covered it three or four inches deep. Their object, 

 no doubt, is to make a suitable place in which to lay their 



