April 03, 1980 - Of Flounder, Daffodils and Other Signs of SpringSECOND SECTION
APRIL. 3. 1980
Of Flounder, Daffodils and Other Signs of Spring
Fresh flounder for dinner in our house
means someone's been fishing and spring
is well on its way. Of course, the more
obvious signs are the blooming crocus and
budding daffodils pushing their way up
through the oak leaves along our drive-
way. Another, rigt too obvious to most, but
one that tells me the earth is warming up,
is the many signs of worms in the garden
and on the lawn.
Throughout the winter my supply of
horseradish has held up admirably. My
mother's cream sauce recipe with horse-
radish over boiled beef is a real favorite,
and of course horseradish mixed with chili
sauce is ideal to go along with raw clams
and oysters. These uses and others made it
necessary for me to dig some fresh new
horseradish roots this week, to make a new
supply. Of course, while I was out digging i
had to get a basket of Jerusalem arti-
chokes which, eaten raw with a dip, or cut
up into a salad, add much freshness to any
meal.
In doing my digging I turned over the
soil to expose countless healthy earth-
worms. They lay dormant below the frost
line during the winter, but now they were
ready for work and were busy retooling the
earth to let air and water better penetrate
the soil and give it the texture needed for
growth. Few realize the importance of
these lowly animals. Yet, long ago Aris-
totle spoke of them, for he called them the
"guts" of the earth. A bit coarse perhaps,
but to the point, for they, along with a host
of other creepy, crawling, and invisible
creatures, make the soil the lifeblood of all
plants.
Worms Come Up To Eat
Earthworms for bait, as every freshwa-
ter fisherman can vouch for, come out at
night to feed. This is especially true after a
rain or when the ground is damp. To
collect them you'd use a flashlight., prefer-
ably covered with a red lens, for the
worms are very sensitive to white light,
but not to the red. Therehy you can sneak
up on them without them slithering down
their holes before you grab ahold of them.
Earthworms have no eyes, but their tooist
skin is very sensitive to vibrations and
light. So walk softly and carry a red light...
no pun intended
What the earthworms are doing above
ground at night is feeding on decayed
matter that is later brought down into their
holes, eaten and digested and the waste
then deposited above ground in small
mounds called castings. Proby you've
all noticed these little heaps of digested
castings. This is nature's way of plowing.
Many years ago Darwin estimated be-
tween 7 and 18 tons of these castings would
be brought from below to the surface each
year on every acre of land. These castings
are very high in nutrient and mineral
value and highly sophisticated plant grow-
ers pay a premium for them to propagate
(heir plants in.
Worm's invaluable Contribution
When you think of the aeration of the
soil, and its water absorbency, caused by
the myriad holes the worms create, and
the added nutrients piled on the surface
from the worm castings, we get some idea
of how the earth as we know it today was
formed through its millions of years of
evolution. No wonder virgin soils and rich
prairie lands were so much in demand for
growing crops.
Our lawn has many trees on it and we
don't do loo good a job of getting all the
leaves raked off. As the year goes on the
leaf part breaks up and becomes part of the
humus on the lawn. That is to say all but
the stem gets broken up. And it is this stem
that. hah attracted nay attention so many
times on our lawn. In the morning I'll see
hundreds, or more probably thousands of
these stems sticking upright on the lawn.
Sure enough it was our friend the earth-
worm, who had dragged them down into
his hole during the night, and there they
remained. stuck as markers to their
tunnels. Look for this phenomenon and if
you find it you can be assured that you too
have a good supply of workers under-
ground.
'!'Here's an old saying that it has rained
earthworms when people see them dead in
puddles along the paths and roadsides.
Sorry to say it hadn't really rained
earthworms. The fact is the worms had
VE
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• In many areas
HUGH L CAREY GOVERNOR JAMES L LAROCCA. COMMISSIONER
SPRING DIGGING - -Fresh horseradish dug in time for Easter is a
tradition in many families. The soil has warmed up to make easy
digging. Photo -by Paul Stoutenburgh
been caught underground when the water
collected above and filled hp their tunnels
and so they came out only to be caught in
the cold daylight, where they drowned.
Earthworms can regenerate themselves
to some extent when a part is broken off,
but only if the break is in the lower end.
This is an interesting trait of our earth-
worms. Worms in other parts of .the world
are Netter adapted to this process and can
regenerate even if ripped in half.
Sandworms' Midnight Dance
Our earthworms are part of a large
family of segmented worms called anne-
lids. You can see their segments clearly if
you look close enough and you can also see
a heavy band around the body that carries
the eggs. This band is like a cocoon and
houses the young until they are born, tiny
miniature worms.
Another member of the- segmented
worm family that the saltwater fishermen
knows well is the commonly called sand -
worm he uses for bait. They have a
fascinating midnight dance that we'll talk
about some other time, but in the mean-
time remember one thing about these
segmented fellows -- they can bite! Pick
them up from the back of the head because
they give a painful nip.
These segmented worms are a vital part
of our natural world and continually
perform an important function for us.
Whether we use them as bait for fishing or
ponder over the traces in our garden we
must how to the job they are doing foras.
There was a time not too long ago when
spring planting carne along and the rich
brown earth was turned over by gleaming
mold hoards There would always he a
cloud of while gulls following the plow.
They were feasting on the earthworms in
the field whose ancestors were here in one
form or another millions of years ago.
Look t liis year when the plowing starts and
see if yon can find any gulls following the
tractors as they plow back and forth over
the land. What you find will make you
ponder... PAUL STOUTEI'403URGIi
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