Darwin’s Dilemma – The Earthworm
The premier soil creature for
the gardener is the earthworm. They are so fascinating that Charles Darwin
spent 40 years studying their effect on the soil, but he emphasized their role
in raising the level of the soil rather than increasing its fertility. Every discussion
about Creation versus evolution begins with Darwin, so a chapter on the
earthworm is especially worthwhile.
An earthworm
is all muscle, which is one reason they are so effective. The entire body is
devoted to the task of wiggling through soil. Bristles on each segment give it
traction in the soil and also help for movement on the surface. The earthworm
is one long digestive tube through the middle of those muscle rings. It eats
its way through soil, and a crop grinds up what it consumes, with tiny rocks
and sand. But the worm itself does not digest. The bacteria eaten break down
the sugars and feed the host. The worm does contribute calcium carbonate—like
Caltrate and other calcium supplements—to sweeten the soil. The earthworm is
unique in producing this chemical.
The calcium
carbonate glands are part of Darwin’s Dilemma, a mystery science cannot solve.
Why does the earthworm do this? The purpose is beyond modern scientific
protocols, because science cannot explain purpose. Science observes and reports
but cannot explain why. The earthworm benefits, because this creature likes
sweeter soil, and this chemical (a base) changes the pH of a soil, making it
more base. For some reason we call that sweet without having the taste of
sugar. The calcium also benefits plant life with the calcium supplement,
because the chemicals needed by the plants are made more available with the
right pH.
The
exception is with those plants that thrive in acid soil – rhododendrons, azaleas,
and evergreens.
The calcium
is excreted from the earthworm in the form of castings or manure, which also
concentrate other valuable minerals for crops.
The worm’s digestive enzymes
(or, properly, those produced by bacteria in the worm’s intestines) unlock many
of the chemical bonds that otherwise tie up nutrients and prevent their being
plant-available. Thus, vermicastings are as much as seven times richer in
phosphate than soil that has not been through an earthworm. They have ten times
the available potash; five times the nitrogen; three times the usable
magnesium; and they are one and a half times higher in calcium (thanks to the
calcium carbonate added during digestion). All these nutrients bind onto
organic matter in the fecal pellets.
Worms can deposit a staggering
10 to 15 tons of castings per acre on the surface annually. This almost
unbelievable number is clearly significant to gardeners: the ability to
increase the availability of nutrients without carting in and adding tons of
fertilizer is about as close to alchemy as one can get.
Teaming
with Microbes, p.
The tons of castings, per acre, left on the soil annually,
should give any gardener pause, time for a wry grin. Nothing is more sacred in
old-time gardening that moving soil and compost. Double-digging is almost
sacramental in gardening. Elaborate charts are drawn about how to dig down six
feet deep and move tons of soil around, until nothing is where it was before.
This back-breaking chore is the equivalent of being a daily communicant in the
Roman Catholic Church. Knowing what we do now, there is plenty of reason to let
God’s little gardener do this work and not destroy the structure and elaborate
fungal jungle that was already in place to feed and protect plants.
Earthworms
do far more than fertilize the soil. Although they seem singularly built and
designed for digging, many other benefits of the earthworm are remembered with
advantages:
· Tunneling
aerates the soil, making it lighter and easier for the roots to penetrate.
· Opening
up the soil for air also lets rain and water penetrate more deeply.
· Secreting
nitrogen products through the skin adds to greening up the garden.
· Surface
action attracts and feeds birds, who add insect pests to their diet.
· Living
and working the soil means holding a vast supply of moisture and nutrition in
their bodies.
· Dying
allows the earthworm to make one more donation to the soil.
Gardeners have always associated a large earthworm
population with soil fertility. The Egyptians saw this lowly creature is the basis
for turning the annual flooding of the Nile into a blessing of organic matter
worked into the soil – for free. The British studied this phenomenon and wrote
about the meaning behind ancient Egyptian awe of the earthworm.
Whenever one
form of life in the soil is featured, others also get honor due. Ants engage in
similar tunneling work and serve as God’s little undertakers, disposing of dead
insects, and food for birds that enjoy. Slugs are the animals that everyone
hates, since they leave a slime trail on food plants and damage fresh, tender
seedlings. However, slugs do most of their sliming and shredding work
underground while serving as food for others, water storage for the soil. If
one creature’s benefits are not a great enough marvel, then the Creation
gardener should consider all of them working together at once. The creatures
and plants balance and limit damage, always improving the soil, launching
destructive attacks – such as aphids against roses – but providing a food base
for the beneficial wasps and flies that must have a pest to feed its young.
In contrast,
intelligent man must use elaborate plans to get a new church building
completed. The plumber may design a heating system that will not work. The
workers may not come on time or do their work to perfection. Money must be
raised or borrowed, and conflicts are created by the size and color of the
kitchen. At the dinner celebrating the success of the project, the bishop
offers a prayer of congratulation for efforts honoring God.
Meanwhile, all of God’s
Creation is doing this work without man, feeding all the creatures and building
the soil for the next generation. Each bug arrives on time and does its job.
The birds come and go on schedule. The microbes carry out the most elaborate
exchange of useful chemicals for feeding that plants that ultimately feed them.
And to quote Shakespeare, “A man can fish with the worm that ate a king, and
then eat the fish he catches with that worm.”
