SOIL BUILDERS 15 



Angleworms benefit farm soils in several ways. 

 The channels that they make loosen, aerate and 

 drain the soil to a considerable depth, far deeper 

 than the subsoil plow works. The small roots and 

 rootlets that reach deep into the subsoil usually 

 follow the worm burrows, This is particularly 

 true of tenacious soils, in which angleworms most 

 frequently work. They are rarely numerous in 

 very light, sandy soils because these do not contain 

 a sufficient quantity of vegetable matter upon which 

 they may feed. Again, the soil is fined by being 

 passed through the worms. In making these 

 channels the worm swallows the soil for the pur- 

 pose of using as food the decaying vegetable matter 

 it contains. As it passes out through the worm 

 this soil is ground, as grain is ground in a chicken's 

 gizzard. Charles Darwin estimated that the angle- 

 worms in English soils passed through their bodies 

 and ground over ten tons of soil per acre each year; 

 that is, they deposited about one-fifth of an inch 

 of castings over the entire surface each year. This 

 is the richest kind of top-dressing. He estimated 

 that there are about 50,000 earth worms in each 

 acre of English garden land, and about 25,000 in 

 each acre of meadow land. Our American soils 

 are as full of "bait worms" as the English soils, and 

 their influence on our agriculture must be fully 

 as pronounced as that assigned to them by the 

 great scientist. 



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THE ACTION OF MOVING WATER ON SOIL 



No soil is ever at rest. It is constantly receiving 

 and constantly losing. The additions come mostly 

 from the weathering of rocks and the decay of 

 plants and animals. The losses are mostly due 



