90 HARNESSING THE EARTHWORM 



is a most desirable one ; and a most necessary one if earthworms 

 are to be used extensively in choice lawns and golf courses. A 

 second important point in considering the brandling is the fact 

 that, by leaving its castings under the surface of the soil near 

 the root-zone, all the valuable elements of plant food in the cast- 

 ings are readily available to the roots of plants and vegetables; 

 also, the thoroughly humidified castings, with high ammonia con- 

 tent, are not exposed to the air and dried out. 



Another characteristic of the manure worm (brandling) is 

 its habit of living close to the surface, seldom going deeper than 

 six inches. Such a burrowing earthworm will cultivate the soil 

 thoroughly about the upper roots of plants and vegetables. It 

 was my desire to retain this valuable characteristic, if possible, 

 but at the same time secure a worm that would burrow deep into 

 the soil and bring up the subsoil with its rich chemical elements 

 so necessary in the renewal of the topsoil. 



My search for a deep-burrowing earthworm to mate with the 

 brandling was finally rewarded. I examined the earth about the 

 deep roots of large trees which were being transplanted and dis- 

 covered numerous earthworms which evidently spent most of the 

 time deep in the ground. Such worms have been found as deep 

 as ten to twelve feet or more, and very generally five and six feet 

 deep. This worm was a large species of Lumbricus terrestris 

 (orchard worm, rainworm, night lion, angleworm, and a number 

 of other popular names in different localities), of an average 

 length of six to eight inches, but sometimes reaching ten to twelve 

 inches in size, whereas the manure worm is a medium-sized worm 

 of an average length of three or four inches. 



Being satisfied that this type of orchard worm would be ideal 

 for experimentation, I selected healthy specimens of both the 

 brandling and the orchard worm in the hope of producing a 

 fertile cross. These were placed in a special mixture of approxi- 

 mately one-third soil, one-third vegetable humus, and one-third 

 decayed animal manure. Such a composition contains all the 

 elements necessary for plant life and in this instance contained 

 plenty of food suitable for both the brandling and the orchard 

 worm. 



In the course of time examination of the soil revealed earth- 

 worm capsules, and copulation of the earthworms was observed. 

 I carefully gleaned these first capsules from the soil and placed 

 them in a separate container. When these were hatched and grew 

 to near maturity, the weaker and less promising were culled out 



