Episode 9 - Downsanup Downs Underground News

Crop Faces Devastation" - The headline from the "Downsanup Underground News" was the talk of the farm. "What's happening? Who's in danger? Can we help?" echoed in every paddock. If it were true, this could put an end to Jason's trip to Japan

I decided that I'd better check out the story - and who better to speak to than it's author, our own underground reporter Albert Annelid - he's a worm you know - very comfortable with the underground. Keeps us up to date with what happens beneath the soil's surface - you can't imagine what goes on there and how much it affects what happens up here.

Enough of this chatting, I have to get the facts. With my mouth against the ground I shouted out "ALBERT, I'VE GOT TO TALK TO YOU". Up he popped and shook soil from his eyes. "My story's got you interested, I'll bet Billie" he said. "Yes it's another case of us Undergrounders seeing important things you Surfacers don't pick up on until it's too late."

"The truth is I'm worried about Chelsea." he continued. "I was munching my way through the soil in her paddock when I came across her roots. They were covered in lumps. You know how fussy Chelsea is about her looks - zits on her roots are not her style - she must be terribly ill. The chickpea crop is doomed, my reporter's instinct smells disaster!"

The thought of Chelsea being ill, performing badly as a crop and never being invited back onto the farm again was too horrible to think about - after all Wally Wheat and Jason Jones were counting on her. "Albert, you've got to show me what you saw" I said, scooping him up under my arm and running with him to Chelsea's paddock.

"Chelsea are you OK?" I panted, grasping her by the wrist to take her pulse. She shook me off with the strength of someone who felt pretty fit. Poor Albert hit the ground with a thump.

"Billie dear, you shouldn't believe everything you read in the paper" she rebuked. "And you, a legume too. You should know that these lumps on our roots are a sign of Wonderful Health."

Oh dear Chelsea was right - her lumps were nodules- you know those little "fertiliser factories" that we legumes and our rhizobia set up in our roots. It was not a case of zits after all, but a case of symbiosis. What is symbiosis? Now that's another story...