In message , Sacha
writes
On 22/6/07 01:42, in article 0WEei.6160$xk5.3384@edtnps82, "Pinetree"
wrote:

I'm thinking of rejuvenating an old rock garden. (Think of a
mini-Stonehenge: the boulders are now too heavy and too deeply sunk to move.
Which makes me wonder if anyone knows how much of those real Stonehenge
boulders (on average) are below ground now four(?) thousand years later )
snip

We used to have an urgler whose husband was an archaeologist who did some
eminent work on Stonehenge - shame she's not here now! One piece I read
said that the bases of the stones were sunk to five feet.
http://www.astronomy.pomona.edu/arch...enge/descr.htm


"The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms, with
Observations on their Habits" by Charles Darwin, 1881. A very good read
for anyone interested in soil, earthworms, or the way the Victorians did
science.

My copy's a 1945 reprint with an introduction by a knighted scientist
explaining its importance. Stephen Jay Gould said the book was regarded
as a trivial retirement hobby by US geologists of his generation, but
that was after the "green revolution" and US farmers have never looked
after their soil.

He was interested in the way worms bury stones and ancient remains by
burrowing under them and casting the soil onto the surface beside them.
He found that a fallen stone at Stonehenge had sunk ten inches, and
another 9 1/2 inches (measured before mass tourism wore the ground away)
so worms won't have added much to the depth of the standing stones'
bases.
Hops need a deep moist soil, so your garden is likely to have more worms
burying things faster, but it seems an inch in five years is good going.
Do you know how old your rockery is?

--
Sue ]