Earth-worms,
though in appearance a small and despicable link in the chain of
nature, yet, if lost, would make a lamentable chasm. For, to say
nothing of half the birds, and some quadrupeds, which are almost
entirely supported by them, worms seem to be the great promoters
of vegetation, which would proceed but lamely without them, by
boring, perforating, and loosening the soil, and rendering it
pervious to rains and the fibres of plants, by drawing straws and
stalks of leaves and twigs into it; and, most of all, by throwing up
such infinite numbers of lumps of earth called worm-casts, which,
being their excrement, is a fine manure for grain and grass. Worms
probably provide new soil for hills and slopes where the rain
washes the earth away; and they affect slopes, probably to avoid
being flooded. Gardeners and farmers express their detestation of
worms; the former because they render their walks unsightly, and
make them much work: and the latter because, as they think,
worms eat their green corn. But these men would find that the earth
without worms would soon become cold, hard-bound, and void of
fermentation; and consequently sterile: and besides, in favour of
worms, it should be hinted that green corn, plants, and flowers, are
not so much injured by them as by many species of coleoptera
(scarabs), and tipulae (long-legs), in their larva, or grub-state; and
by unnoticed myriads of small shell-less snails, called slugs, which
silently and imperceptibly make amazing havoc in the field and
garden.
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