Show 11 11 1 1 1111 I I The Land Doctor ll By Vivian Shearer lilt III I This week we wo will dust oft off the ol old microscope and wind It up for tor a stud study of the animals that make their home In the soil and are so small that they can cannot cannot cannot not be seen with the naked eye ee the the micro animals This kind of animal life is as thick and numerous numerous numerous nu nu- nu- nu in the soil as our wives are at the remnant remnant sale The Themore Themore Themore more important are divided into two t groups which I will now introduce Folks under the microscope microscope microscope mic mic- in the right meet the nematodes under the one on the thc left the protozoa As we look in upon the nematodes nem- nem ato es in the privacy of their bath in the soil water we find that they are shaped something like a spindle that has been drawn rawn out several se times as long longas as s it should be and with an Ice ico co pick point at one end en They spend most of their time time coiled colled into a loop along about their ml mid mid- dle dIe Once In a while though one one will seem to havo have a bright Idea or something and heave itself into a straight line lino as suddenly suddenly sud sud- denly lenly as if It had been tickled with a I. I tenson high wire They are aro often otten called eel They are found in most soils solIs and a 3 good crop of them would count up to maybe 50 billion per acre In order to better stud study and Continued on page four The Land an Doctor Continued from page pago one understand them they are sorted sorted sort sort- ed cd into three general classifications classifications according to their ap ap- petites Decaying organic matter matter matter mat mat- ter Is the staff of life of one kind The next group Is la canni canni- bals The last group is one of really bad actors They get tho the ice ace ce pick end working on the root of a plant and soon they are aro clear inside looking out and ancl then they thoy spend the rest of their lives at homo home within tho the tissue of tho the plant roots The damage c done dono by this particular group of nematodes Is very great Man Many of the tho troubles especially with truck and greenhouse plants are caused by them Although the tho nematodes seem to bo be the gangsters and chiselers of the tho soil plant world and tho the third group in particular seems to be harmful to higher plant life lite yet like all soil organisms they have a definite purpose to serve ser They add organic matter to the soil In much needed quantities quantities quan quan- titles by the very vory bulk and substance substance sub sub- stance of their bodies Their life span Is short perhaps a matter of a few tew days And although they are too small to be seen with the tho naked eye oye yet with somewhere between a billion and 50 billion dying every ery few days the grand total of ot substance over overa a period of a fow few hundred or a afew afew few Cew thousand years Is nothing to sneeze at We will finish up our study of the tho soil animal next week when we wo will look In upon the proto proto- zoa Their homo home also Is In the upper several inches of the solum the the topsoil They also live Iho and J labor bor and die dlo that higher forms of at life may exist upon tho earth |