This was indeed an April Fool's post.The Earthworm tractor stories were written by one of my favorite humorists, William Hazlet Upson. They were printed in various magazines and anthologized in the book, "Earthworm Tractors," which must have been published about the time the movie came out. The first story, the one that started it all, is called "I'm in a Hurry," and does not feature uber-salesman Alexander Botts. It DOES take place here in Central Texas, though. It is set in Llano, which in the early 'twenties, when Upson wrote the story, was much more remote and isolated than it is today. "I'm in a Hurry" really should be on this website; it is almost certainly in public domain; perhaps YT magazine could be persuaded to find a place on this site for this one fictional article. I chose Earthworms for my April Fool's joke AFTER checking the internet and finding information about the film so people would have a fighting chance to realize I was joking. I miss the old days when almost all newspapers ran April Fools stories. In our modern era, when almost no one has a sense of humor and everyone is so easily offended, no real news organization dares play such jokes on the public, although I am confident there are plenty played by newspeople on one another in newsrooms all across the country.
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