Earthworms are (a) useful (b) harmful (c) more useful than harmful (d) more harmful.
Option A Earthworms are very useful. All over the world they are used as bait for fishing. Earthworms are in general beneficial to agriculture. Their habit of burrowing and swallowing earth increases fertility of soil in many ways. Their burrows permit penetration of air and moisture in porous soil, improve drainage, and make easier the downward growth of roots. Excretory wastes and other secretions of worms also enrich soil by adding nitrogenous matters that form important plant food. Earthworms were used variously as medicines in the past. Earthworms were used to cure stones in bladder, yellowness of jaundice, pyorrhoea, piles, rheumatism or gout, diarrhoea. Earthworms are easily obtained and are of convenient size for dissections. They are, therefore, universally employed for class studies and for investigations in general and comparative physiology.
