Article from Seaside and Wayside
Some people think that you can cut a worm in two and each end goes off and makes a whole new worm. But that is not true. If you look closely at an earthworm, you will see Mr. Worm is not alike at both ends. One end has the head, the stomach, the brain, and a heart. A new tail may grow upon the front part, but the hind part cannot live and grow. It cannot get a new mouth or heart, so it cannot eat food. It soon dries up and dies.
Mr. Worm's body is made of one hundred to two hundred rings. Each ring has tiny hooks, too small to see. By these hooks the worm moves along, and digs his way in the ground. Mr. Worm can hold so fast to his den or hole, that you have hard work to pull him out.
Have you seen Mr. Robin brace his feet and tug with all his might, when
he pulls out a worm? The worm is holding fast by his hooks.
Can the humble and dirty worm help man? The worms live underground. They make long, winding halls, like streets, some inches below the top soil. These halls, or little tunnels, help to keep the earth loose, so that the fine roots of the plants can grow well in it.
These tunnels also serve to help the air move more easily through the soil. By their constant motion below the surface, the worms till the earth, as man tills it above.
When they make their halls and houses, they fill their long bodies with the earth. They turn themselves into baskets to carry the dirt out from their houses.
The worms work, work, work all the time, taking out earth, and carrying it to the top of the ground.
Worms also help make the soil rich by the dead leaves and stems they drag into their holes to decay.
Fields once stony and hard have become rich and fine.
All this is done by the busy worms. The worm is the tool which helps to build the world.