116 HARNESSING THE EARTHWORM 



shall thus be able quickly to transfer the top two-thirds or more 

 to the new culture boxes without encountering any worms and 

 without further waiting. 



The remainder of the old compost, with the breeder worms, 

 should now be returned to the old culture boxes, the boxes rilled 

 with the new compost and prepared as at the original start. The 

 newly loaded boxes with capsules should be properly marked 

 and a new tier of boxes started. These new cultures will re- 

 quire from sixty to ninety days before they are ready for har- 

 vesting operations. 



With mature, breeding earthworms, harvesting is carried out 

 every twenty-one to thirty days. Incubation period of capsules 

 is fourteen to twenty-one days, depending on moisture, tempera- 

 ture, and other conditions. Therefore, if harvesting is carried 

 out every twenty-one to thirty days, practically all the increase 

 in capsules will be transferred to new culture boxes, to build up 

 additional breeding stock. 



Marking Boxes 



Any system of marking can be followed by the individual 

 as may suit his own inclination. We usually number and date 

 the boxes, maintaining two series of numbers. One series of 

 numbers is for mature breeder-earthworms. The other series 

 is for the cultures which are developing from egg-capsules. As 

 the new cultures reach the reproductive age, they are trans- 

 ferred to the breeder series. In setting up new breeder boxes, 

 it is well to actually count the worms, allowing five hundred to 

 six hundred per box. It is impossible to recover all the egg- 

 capsules at harvest time and this residue of capsules will hatch 

 out and develop with the mature breeders. In time, the culture 

 boxes will become overpopulated. For this reason, the breeder 

 boxes should be worked over from time to time, and the number 

 of worms reduced to from five hundred to six hundred per box. 

 As previously stated, if a culture box becomes too crowded, the 



