ORCHARDING WITH EARTHWORMS 83 



intensive propagation of domesticated earthworms for all hor- 

 ticultural purposes will be taken up in later chapters. 



Since becoming acquainted with Mr. Hinckley and his 

 methods and results through "earthworm tillage," we have had 

 reports from a number of other orchardists. We will mention 

 one small tract in particular, a five-acre grove near Costa Mesa, 

 California. It is handled by methods similar to Mr. Hinckley's 

 grove ; that is, methods which we have called "earthworm tillage." 

 For the year 1945 the owner of this grove stated that he received 

 a gross amount of $7,500 for his orange crop from these five 

 acres. Examination shows that the entire tract is really a great 

 earthworm culture bed. From a few such reports investigated, 

 we are led to conclude that the earthworm doubtless deserves 

 credit for many of the outstanding results which have been ob- 

 served in other successful orchards. 



While we have discussed the earthworm in citrus orchard- 

 ing, the same principles apply to other types of orcharding, as 

 well as to general farming and production of food crops. What 

 we wish to emphasize, regardless of vegetation under considera- 

 tion, is that with earthworms and the other allied forces of 

 nature, utilized properly, we obtain a soil with a maximum of 

 plant nutrients in available form. From such soil, experience 

 has shown that maximum production results are obtained, both 

 in quantity and quality. 



