26 HARNESSING THE EARTHWORM 



INTESTINES OF THE EARTH 

 We are indebted to the ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle, 

 for the apt phrase which literally describes the function of these 

 master-builders of topsoil. He called earthworms "intestines of 

 the earth/* W. L. Powers, Soil Scientist, Oregon Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, termed the earthworm a Colloid mill." This, 

 too, is a very good descriptive name to indicate the activity of 

 earthworms in soil-building. They literally serve as colloid mills 

 to produce the intimate chemical and mechanical homogenized 

 mixture of fine organic and inorganic matter which forms their 

 castings. In the mixing which takes place in the alimentary canal 

 of the earthworm, the ingested materials undergo chemical 

 changes, deodorization and neutralization, so that the resultant 

 castings (manure) are a practically neutral humus, rich in water- 

 soluble plant food, immediately available for plant nutrition. 



As flexible as silk, as strong as steel these similes may well 

 describe the bodv of an earthworm. Known as one of the 



strongest animals innature for its size, an earthworm weighing 

 less than one-thirtieth of an ounce may move a stone weighing 

 as much as two ounces. The family name, annelida, derived 

 from the Latin word anellus (a ring), is graphically descriptive 

 of the earthworm, whose body is formed by a series of from 200 

 to 400 muscular rings (more or less, depending on the species), 

 closely woven togethei to form a tube of great strength, stream- 

 lined to the ultimate for functional performance. 



Considered primarily, man himself is an organism of bone 

 and muscle, brain and nervous system, organ and tissue, inte- 

 grated around a digestive tube the alimentary canal about 

 thirty feet long. The earthworm is a digestive tube alone, strip- 

 ped of all external incumbrance which might interfere with its 

 life-function of digestion and equipped with just enough instinc- 

 tive intelligence to carry out its feeding activities without too fine 

 discrimination. 



Thus, everything which opposes itself to the blind attention 

 of the earthworm becomes something to be devoured. When a 



