2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Although they live underground, it is their hard work that all life on earth owes. With their soft bodies, they transform hard earth into loose soil, permeated with air, which green plants need for nutrition and growth
You, of course, understand that the conversation will be about earth or earthworms.
Charles Darwin and the garden worms
The famous naturalist Charles Darwin admired the meticulous work of earthworms. They, like a fine sieve, sift the ground with such care that no dense mineral particles remain in it. Darwin compared the activity of worms to the work of conscientious gardeners who mix the soil with special zeal, preparing it for the most whimsical and refined plants.
Do not mind worms
One day my little daughter came into the kitchen while I was butchering a chicken. She looked with pity at the flattened chicken carcass. To calm her down, I said that this is how the world works - we eat chicken, chickens eat worms. “Well, I don’t mind the worms,” she said.
To the city child, disgustedly looking at the worms infesting on the sidewalk, crawling out after a heavy rain, the worms seem to be monsters from cartoons. It is surprising that such soft and gentle, with a circulatory system with red blood, they live underground.
Since worms breathe through the skin, which is rich in sensitive cells, they crawl to the surface after heavy rain. After all, rainwater does not have time to quickly seep through the soil and makes it difficult for worms to breathe.
Life in a dungeon
Unlike the bear that lives in the ground and feeds on plant roots, worms feed on the earth and decaying plant debris. For several years, they pass the entire arable layer of the earth through their soft body. Worms loosen the earth, enrich it with humus, fertilize it with their own secretions, create a soil structure that allows moisture and air to easily penetrate to depth.
Worms come to the surface of the earth in two cases: at night, to grab a fallen leaf into their burrow, and after heavy rain, to breathe air.
Mental activity
It turns out that worms have a brain. True, it is poorly developed. The two nerve nodes of the underdeveloped brain plus the abdominal cord form the worm's nervous system. Therefore, worms are familiar with the feeling of fear and the ability to choose. Curious naturalists conducted an experiment with worms, arranging two paths at the fork in their labyrinth according to the principle: if you go to the right, you will receive an electric shock, if you go to the left, you will find food. After several attempts to go to the right, the worms chose left-hand traffic.
Worms also have the ability to regenerate, that is, they self-medicate, restoring lost body parts without medical assistance. If, when digging a bed, you chop a worm, it will not harbor anger at you, but will restore its own lost tail.
Unrequited love
Worms do not suffer from unrequited love, as they are hermaphrodites. Having reached "adulthood", they have both male and female reproductive systems at the same time, multiplying by cross fertilization. From the moment of "conception" to the appearance of an able-bodied adult in the dungeon, it takes 4-5.5 months.
Vermiculture
If a city dweller looks at worms with disgust, then gardeners treat them with love and care. They are even specially bred in specially prepared compost. The compost processed by worms, the so-called vermicompost, together with the worms is sent to the beds and get excellent yields of vegetables.
The use of earthworms in traditional medicine
Earthworms, as healers of diseases, are popular in Europe, Russia, China. The most commonly used powder from dried worms, or decoctions and tinctures from the powder. Worms are boiled in wine, vegetable oil is insisted on them. All these prepared remedies are used in the treatment of various organs. They heal wounds, treat tuberculosis, jaundice, rheumatism and even cataracts.
Recommended:
The Most Ancient Earthly Plants
Not many plants on our planet have been able to survive in their original form since ancient times, which a person learns about by studying the layers of rocks. The rich flora that adorned the Earth hundreds of millions of years ago left memories of itself in the form of fossilized specimens, surprising and delighting. And only a few plant species have managed to survive to this day, preserving the genetic memory of the past of our common home. It is a pity that they cannot tell about this in human language, although without
Underground Peanuts
Underground peanuts (lat.Arachis hypogaea) - an annual low herb of the genus Peanut (Latin Arachis), representing the glorious family of Legumes on Earth (Latin Fabaceae). Its fruits, which are beans, are called nuts by humans, although they are not nuts according to the botanical standard.
Scylla's Earthly Stars
It is not for nothing that these early blue-eyed flowers have been given such a formidable name. Their bulbs are dangerous to human health if you try to eat them. But gardeners grow the plant not to eat the bulbs, but to decorate the spring garden with miniature flower stars that have fallen from heaven
Guava - An Inhabitant Of Earthly Paradise
When the Spanish conquerors, among the tropical plants of the new continent, met small trees with yellow fruits, exuding an amazingly delicate aroma, they decided that they were in paradise on earth
Marigolds - The Guardian Of Gardens And Orchards
If you are not a supporter of chemical warfare against uninvited eaters of your crop, make friends with marigolds. Their smart velvet hats will brighten the territory; will attract hoverflies and other beneficial insects; will scare away the indestructible bear and nematodes buried deep in fertilized soil