46 HARNESSING THE EARTHWORM 



worms, digested, homogenized and excreted as rich, fine humus- 

 laden topsoil, loaded with immediately available, water-soluble 

 plant nutrients. Here no human cultivation is required. The 

 ground is seeded and the next operation is the harvest the earth- 

 worms do the cultivating. 



Age after age, for thousands of years, this process has been 

 repeated. In this favorable environment nature composts food in 

 abundance, the earthworms devour it, digest it, and excrete humus 

 for the growth of vegetation in an endless cycle. We are thus 

 given an outstanding example of mass-production of topsoil in 

 nature by the earthworms of the Nile Valley, rightly termed a 

 soil of inexhaustible fertility. 



In this recorded observation, the castings were estimated for 

 a period of six months only, totaling for this time slightly less 

 than 120 tons per acre. Based on comprehensive knowledge of 

 the earthworm and his work, a conservative estimate for the en- 

 tire year in the area under consideration would place the total 

 probable annual output of castings at more than 200 tons per acre. 



FERTILITY OF EARTHWORM SOIL 



While engaged in research and experiments over a number 

 of years, we examined many reports carried in scientific litera- 

 ture, covering a period of nearly one hundred years, from before 

 the time of Darwin down to the immediate present. The evi- 

 dence, showing vastly increased productivity of soil that is well 

 populated with earthworms, or entirely produced by earthworms, 

 is fully conclusive. In fact, the evidence shows an overwhelm- 

 ing superiority of earthworm soil over other fertile soils. Among 

 the many reasons that account for the fertility of earthworm cast- 

 ings, probably the most outstanding is the fact that in its passage 

 through the earthworm the soil undergoes a chemical change 

 through which the nutritional elements for plant growth are ren- 

 dered water-soluble to a much more highly marked degree than 

 is found in soil which has not been subjected to the influence of 

 earthworms. 



