24 /HARNESSING THE EARTHWORM 



or stinking earthworm (Helodrilus foetidus), illustrated in Fig. 

 2. The brandling is commonly known as the manure worm. 



I rainworm/ is a native of the fields and forest lawns, gar- 

 dens, orchards, meadows, and pastures. It commonly lives in the 

 upper eighteen inches of soil, devouring ceaselessly, day and 

 night, dead roots, leaves, and all dead organic materials, digest- 

 ing and utilizing them to serve its bodily needs and finally eject- 

 ing humus in the form of castings the manure of earthworms. 

 But the rainworm is not entirely concerned with the thin surface 

 layer of the earth, though that surface layer is its main feeding 

 and breeding ground. It quite generally burrows to a depth of 

 jfive or six feet, and earthworm burrows have even been found at 

 depthes of from ten to fourteen feet. From these deep burrows 

 into the subsoil the earthworm returns to the surface, bringing 

 new mineral parent material for topsoil and depositing it in the 

 form of castings. These castings from the deep layers of the 

 earth surface are not just sterile, mineralized earth. In the jour- 

 ney through the alimentary canal of the worm they have under- 

 gone chemical changes, taken on new material, been ground and 

 thoroughly mixed, and when they are deposited on and in the 

 immediate surface of the earth this new material has become 

 humus-laden topsoil, ready for immediate use by growing vegeta- 

 tion. 



In the colder climates, the rainworm burrows deep below the 

 frost line during the winter season, lying dormant while the 

 ground is frozen, but coming to the surface as soon as the spring 

 thaw has warmed the earth. However, the rainworm is very 

 hardy, remains active in quite low temperatures, and has even 

 been observed in slushy snow. 



Under particularly favorable conditions, the rainworm often 

 attains a length of twelve inches or more. A more usual length 

 for a fully mature rainworm is five or six inches, with an average 

 length of eight inches. 



The(1brano!iinfr or manure worm] (Helodrilus -foetidus), is 

 a small, very active, very prolific worm, characterized by a dis- 



