SUBTERRANEAN LIGHT-GIVERS. 33 



CHAPTER V. 



SUBTERRANEAN LIGHT-GIVERS. 



IN wandering through the fields in early morning, we often 

 see little heaps of newly disturbed earth, and occasionally 

 catch glimpses of reddish or pink bodies quickly withdraw- 

 ing into little tunnels in the sod. These are the earthworms, 

 considered the humblest of all animals ; yet, as insignificant 

 as they seem, they are among the most valuable aids to the 

 agriculturist. 



We may appreciate this by selecting a field at random in a 

 good producing country, making a section down through the 

 earth for several feet, when, if carefully done, we shall find 

 innumerable tunnels formed by the worms, leading here, 

 there, and every^^here. In fact, che upper crust of the earth 

 is an endless maze of streets, lanes, and avenues. A natural- 

 ist has even attempted to calculate the number of these 

 little workers, and has come to the conclusion that they 

 average one hundred thousand to the acre ; and in especially 

 rich ground in New Zealand it was estimated that there were 

 three hundred and forty-eight thousand, four hundred and 

 eighty in a single acre. This vast body of worms is continu- 

 ally at work, boring this way and that, coming to the surface 

 during the night, and retreating to greater depths during the 

 day; and it is at once evident that their tunnels constitute 



