CAN IT BE DONE? 57 



foot of composted parent material. In round numbers, such a 

 concentration means one hundred and thirty million worms 

 per acre foot. The fact which makes such high concen- 

 trations possible is that the number of earthworms in a given 

 environmental space is limited only by the amount of avail- 

 able food present. Lest the reader at this point be misled into 

 thinking that three thousand earthworms could survive and 

 work in a cubic foot of native soil, we hasten to state that in 

 intensive propagation we provide the necessary concentrated nu- 

 tritional material for the worms to work with in special culture 

 beds or compost heaps. 



We have gone to the greatest of all teachers Mother Na- 

 ture for an example of "mass-production" of earthworm top- 

 soil in the Nile Valley, showing that it can be done. Not only 

 does nature show that it can be done, but she shows how to do it. 

 Making practical application of the lessons of nature, in the in- 

 tensive propagation and use of domesticated earthworms we 

 create a favorable environment, provide the abundant-soil-building 

 food of worms which is cheaply available practically everywhere, 

 and the example of nature is duplicated in proportion to the 

 amount of material and number of worms involved. 



We now pass to the second part of the book, which deals 

 more particularly with earthworms under controlled propagation 

 and use. 



