PROLOGUE 13 



usable form everything that [ had Jbeenjtaken .out of it in the life 

 cycle from earth, through life, back to earth. 



And through contemplation of the vast activities of these 

 lowly creatures, a force in nature comparable to water-power in 

 its potentialities, an idea was born the harnessing of the earth- 

 worm for the intensive use of man. 



From every region of the globe the products of field and 

 forest, orchard and garden, rivers, lakes and oceans, ranches and 

 stock farms, flow in a never-ending and ever-increasing stream 

 to the great centers of population. Thus by untold millions of 

 tons each year the widely diffused fertility of the earth is 

 gathered up and concentrated in restricted areas, far removed 

 from the possibility of rebuilding the soil at the original source 

 of production. A problem facing civilization today eventually 

 the problem of continued existence itself is the problem of re- 

 building the soil, of restoring to the earth in immediately usable 

 form for plant food the biological end-products of civilization, 

 with the vast tonnage of organic waste material incident to the 

 growing and processing of food for both man and animals. 



The solution of this problem is the next great step in human 

 progress and, once more, it becomes a question of man's con- 

 quest over the potential forces of nature and their adaptation 

 to further his own destiny. This time it is a docile, willing, 

 friendly, harmless, easily controlled force the earthworm 

 complementing and supplementing all the other constructive 

 forces of nature. 



The fact that earthworms excrete humus is just about as 

 important in its relation to man as the fact that water flows down 

 hill. That intimate, finely divided mixture, with chemical com- 

 pounds humus, topsoil, homogenized earth possibly the most 

 mysterious substance know to science, is the one basic source of 

 plant and animal life. From a strictly practical standpoint, the 

 body of the earthworm is nature's own complete, perfect factory 

 for manufacturing this substance quickly and in sufficient 

 quantity to answer all the nutritional needs of man. In con- 



