| Show EARTHWORMS SALIENT WORK Not Only IlIg of Soil Soli IIII lie t it tillable Plant U t Food the work done by the earthworm Is very cr important has come to he be d by all cioe ot of nature Darwin was perhaps the first to pUblish investigatIons concerning tiN thu voik of at this humble animal Since Bar wins tImS 1 a great teal ot of n hall ha been heen paid to the earthworm and It hilts become ot of greater GrenIer end and greater grealer interest to the Iho farmer DurIng tho tUne time the tho dis COWl covely hills has b 11 made mado that nitrogen IS tiLing being supplied to the tho earth In various teals and nad that the world Is really not nol In danger of oC exhausting H its supplies of this clement It hits been that rehash exists In ery great gleat quantitIes In the ho lor layers o of the sell rhe lIon ot of is III one that 1111 has uns from Crom IQ Thu quantity seems r mB to b be limited and ond much of that thaI known to lJ In the tho 1011 Is locle locked d up awny front the thu thuU U use I ot of In no an insoluble form Conn have been their heads to find out the th by whIch much ot of the becomes Id Cd In form Corm pi hO that thal the tho may mily take lak It into IntI II its circulation onu ond employ amplo It In the buIldIng up ot of Its III The ques lion has been nt at least leut partly roe Iced by the that the earthworm Ii h I Ian is isan an Important put In keeping up the tho sup Ip fly ply of oC available R 5 Iii ri scIentists have carded on a Series ot of experIments and ond have hlo obtaIned Important results In ont set lel or oc testa alternate layers IDers of dIfferent of so soI vers placed In boxes baring eno cne side eldo glass Ilass tor o purposes of at observation in Ia thue earthworms were the Ihl soil soli being kept In n a suItable condition ut mol moIsture so 10 that the tho lorms worked as naturally I as they would woul 1 In tho thio Open ground The experiments hasted a car carat at the tho begInning find and en of time were mil Ie to determine the tho N j suits A check teed was as roads mode b by Ing other box boxes ot of soil soli Identical In Iii every respect except that no earthworm vere placed In theSe lit In the soils worked over owr by the worms the soluble odd was t fi und In iii all cases to te he than In Iho those o not worked by tile Iho worms Jere o have havo l a discovery discover or of no emaIl emal Importance It seems to 10 show how that the lii 11 passIng the earth through its worm focus upon earth uses useR seine Bome kInd ot of an acid thereon which renders the Iho phosphorous or of the tho soil thus effected soluble Important as IS the tho work ot of the earthworm In other ways this Is Ie probably the greatest tork lork done b by it II It does 1 a valuable werle In earn carry log the humus from the surface ot of the tho soIl loll Into the tho depths I below also In carr carry III hog down Iliac In tM the experiments r referred to It was found toune that thin the lime which nt at the b beginning in III tile the surface layers ot of the tho roil oll WM isas In the end Ill 11 in the rhe antI I that ha t the Increase or limn lime was gradual from the surface down It was nio d s H rovert that th the nitrogen content ot or the tho sod oll wU was more evenly the soil a at the end 0 of the thin nt at the tho beginnIng Tills of course Is due to the tact fact that the humus ot of the UPP upper r soil Is carried downward by the earth Thus wIthout the work track ot of the he earth earthworm worm all cli the tho humus that hint hns hated through the tho centuries b by ot of plant and animal lire life on the tho surface ot of the ground would never hate haf been so 10 sowell well mixed with the soil Roll When one takes Into the tho long ages agel Itt In which th the earthworms have been at an II Jda Idna 11 obtained of oC the great gront tart the they havu had In the preparation of the tho earth for Cor Corthe forthe the use USO ot of roan man Il hero rl 11 is an f the apparently insignificant agenda which have had so 10 much to do In tank mak makIng tanking Ing the world Ayres 11 herald era Id |
