Farmer's Friend
DR. THOMAS J. BARRETT was a Los Angeles physiotherapist. One day in 1936, he faced a crisis. His business had failed and his health had taken a beating. He was left with just nine dollars. A friend offered him an acre on a dry hillside near California's San Fernando Valley, asking him to pay for it when he could. Since his poor health demanded a change from city air, he agreed.
The doctor and his wife spent weeks clearing the patch to build a shelter. While digging, the doctor's shovel turned up a wriggling earthworm. That worm proved to be a turning point in his life. He remembered what an old French peasant had told him when Barrett was a soldier in France during World War I.
“The good Lord has given the secret of how to build good earth to earthworms.” The peasant grew the loveliest flowers in soil which he enriched with earthworm castings (faeces).
Barrett decided to find out everything he could about earthworms and began experimenting. Soon his once-dry acre was a lush farm, brimming with trees, vegetables, flowers and fruits. All thanks to the humble earthworm!
Earthworms are usually seen in daytime only when a heavy shower of rain flushes them out of their underground burrows. They come out at night to escape the heat of the day and to avoid predators such as birds. Then too, they may poke only their heads out. Which is why even early birds find it difficult to catch worms and even if they do, they have to pull it out using considerable force! The earthworm has tiny bristles all along its length and these anchor it firmly in its hole.
How do earthworms benefit farmers? An earthworm feeds on leaves or on the dead plant and animal matter present in the particles of soil which it swallows when burrowing into the earth. Its special digestive system grinds the material into a fine powder. Its castings or excreta are thus exceptional food for plants. Top soil transformed by earthworms becomes much richer in nitrogen, phosphate and potash. Every 24 hours the worm generates fresh soil equivalent to its weight and in 5 years an inch of valuable topsoil is laid. Not only this, earthworm burrows help aerate and drain the soil and secretions from its gut lower soil acidity.
An earthworm is hermaphrodite, having both male and female organs. During mating, a worm exchanges its sperm with another. The young worms develop in a cocoon deposited in the soil. Though most species are a few millimetres long, one in Australia grows to a whopping 3 metres!