The sun., 1900-12-16
BAT CAVES or TEXAS
They Are the Bisgrst in the World. and Are
Inhabited By MIIIions Of FIitteImice.

The New York man knocked the ashes from
his cigar. rolled IL in his fingers and examined
the fire end with that bored expression which
means. When are You going TO stop?'
The man from Texas had the floor
"Out in my state" he said where lime
stone Is the formation, or country rock
as the miners say. there are hundreds o1
caves. little caves and biz caves. Some
only about as big as a meetnghouse and
Others 80 big they never have found tho end
Of en- I knoN one c,v" 20 biz tn nt 20 z ng
Of eyIlorer~ spent three davs ~ there and
came out as wise as ih"v went in. so thr as
its boundaries were concerned
ANY -talactites and that sort OF thing IN
there ,hed The New Yorker
No. sir. nothing hui bats, gnano and daddy
long legs Bat- by The millions and tens
Of millons it looks Ike all OF @ em bI haPTIIs *
come % q, they can fly ont and get ~quare
meal Of mosquitoes And ] never could So"
how they can tell when night comes out-!d"
for ~ always pitch dark inside
maybe. II j. u change In tn" air that iotiil'S
EN- The savin grace oI hat country p,
sun uuits -hiniu' Mayb" IA" bats feel the
change and know it i ~undown
hnyhoWb b i"hi he aU"i hhoddr Of one OF
these big caves Won II see all these bats coIn-
iug out T. feed For mayb" an hour on end
in Il solid black cloud " gives YOU queer
sort of leeliu' 10 watch EN-. -urg.stin IN.
formal region. aud that sort or ihliH you
think that many n7ts d "Eerslock the arriai
range - To speak, but there seems 10 D"
ll.UiV of insects for ON. and reckon IN"
Lord uroy ida- for the bats same ~ he does
for Tie ,parrow- Bv dayhreak they seem
10 have had all the food and EXERCISE they
want and back they 60 INTO their cave amd
hang '.m-elv"s M on ia" wall again it1
n great sight to watch th">r flights
You spoke OF guano said the New York
man Isn't that good tor someth!ng"
The finest fertilizer in the, land. ieplied
the Texas mau ia runs well in ammonla.
and Of course ihnt makes II good plant
food In some 90 these caves the stun lies
from ten to twenty and thirty feet deep ON
the fioOT TRANSFORMATION l. the trouble
Texas j. IN. land OF magnificent distances
and the railroad ure mostly a long way rom
thu caves. To sack ana haul N" guano
hundred Hes or 81 {" the railroad makes
profits minus quantity, Some day lhr
railroads II eel down IN. that. region and
some enterprISln' fehowll make hi- phr
ont Of that fertilizer.
-Oh. yes. they've been known about for
years Look on nited states theological
survey map Of that region and yonil sec
no new thing, probably thousands OF year.
old Judging by the deposits OF Cuano. Nt
bats must have chased mosquitoes there
long before the Indians began Chippn' nini'
for spikes 10 chase bufn % win.
some OF III" caves are vacant no"
Thoughtless COW punChers or Ike fred "il
TO smoke the bats out. just for fun Tom "l
fine Iuano and swarnis Of bats have beer
destroved that way Smokrd on, .'h.c q
cave stays vacant. - y" bats dnuf seen
10 like tho risk Of going back Hgau,
And tn" DADDY lone t"ES "n JuN'
ougrter soc I'm In tho~" 'ave' 1heN hnni
,in together tiI /, looh- Ike theyd q never
get unrav.led again Bu' l''-t suck 'sh'
under a bunch of EN- Holy smoke The
move they g.t on 'efu'