THE WORK OF EARTHWORMS 



IN the damp Autumn weather the earthworms drag 

 many fallen leaves into their holes, and we may 

 think over their industry at this season, though there is 

 no time, save when the soil is hard-bound in frost, that they 

 are not busy boring their way or eating their way under- 

 ground, grinding the particles small in their gizzards, 

 bringing castings up and taking leaves down, and doing 

 much more besides. In 1777, Gilbert White got at the very 

 root of the matter, and his memorable letter on the subject 

 cannot be read too often. " The most insignificant insects 

 and reptiles are of much more consequence and have much 

 more influence in the economy of nature than the incurious 

 are aware of. ... Earthworms, though in appearance a 

 small and despicable link in the chain of nature, yet, if 

 lost, would make a lamentable chasm. . . . Worms seem 

 to be the great promoters of vegetation, 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. . . . 

 The earth without worms would soon become cold, hard- 

 bound, and void of fermentation, and consequently sterile. 



