mould" would be in some respects more appropriate than that
commonly used of "vegetable mould."

Ten years after the publication of my paper, M. D'Archiac,
evidently influenced by the doctrines of Elie de Beaumont, wrote
about my "singuliere theorie," and objected that it could apply
only to "les prairies basses et humides;" and that "les terres
labourees, les bois, les prairies elevees, n'apportent aucune
preuve a l'appui de cette maniere de voir." {3} But M. D'Archiac
must have thus argued from inner consciousness and not from
observation, for worms abound to an extraordinary degree in kitchen
gardens where the soil is continually worked, though in such loose
soil they generally deposit their castings in any open cavities or
within their old burrows instead of on the surface. Hensen
estimates that there are about twice as many worms in gardens as in
corn-fields. {4} With respect to "prairies elevees," I do not know
how it may be in France, but nowhere in England have I seen the
ground so thickly covered with castings as on commons, at a height
of several hundred feet above the sea. In woods again, if the
loose leaves in autumn are removed, the whole surface will be found
strewed with castings. Dr. King, the superintendent of the Botanic
Garden in Calcutta, to whose kindness I am indebted for many
observations on earth-worms, informs me that he found, near Nancy
in France, the bottom of the State forests covered over many acres
with a spongy layer, composed of dead leaves and innumerable worm-
castings. He there heard the Professor of "Amenagement des Forets"
lecturing to his pupils, and pointing out this case as a "beautiful
example of the natural cultivation of the soil; for year after year
the thrown-up castings cover the dead leaves; the result being a
rich humus of great thickness."