Douglas daily dispatch., 1927-04-17
EMBATTLED BATS

smoking compartment philosophically.
what l mean to say is" he contin-
ued that sometimes the cure is worse
than the disease, or if you follow me,
climatic conditions alter cases. You
have probably guessed by this time
that ! am referring to bats"
My guesses had not included bats,
but l was interested and said so. He
proceeded:
"I was downrin Texas last summer,
and got curious about the funny look
ing little belfries l saw dotting the
landscape here and there over the
boundless praries of that great state.
| was told that they. were bat tow
ers, and not beffries at all.
why bat3towers," 1 inquired
"To raise bats in, of course" / was
informed.
This surprised me. ] was not aware
that bats had any commercial value,
and it was difficult to believe that
they would make agreeable pets when
domesticated. Most of the bats / had
seen in New England, where / live
when l am home, had been Of shy
all inclined to rub themselves against
your shins or climb up into your lap
to be petted. SO l made further in
quiries.
Pushing these energetically, learn
ed that the bats were. not kept for
pets, or for the purpose of killing them
and using their pelts for fur. They
were propagated for the purpose of
making war on mosquitoes and boil
weevils and Goblin moths and other
insectivora which lead the farmers
annually, although vainly to cry out
to Congress that only the McNary
Haugen bill will save them from ex-
tinction as commercial and industrial
entity And they do the work-in
Texas. All the time l was there, saw
only one mosquito and he was fleeing
for his life with five bats hot on his
trail The head bat got him while |
was looking on. 1t was thrilling
sight. yt
I'm my home town in Connecticut the
mosquito situation is grave-very
grave. We screen the houses and the
porches and the beds and even the
children, but it is of no avail against
the pests. They lie in wait for US
while we are approaching the house,
secrete themselves in our clothing, en-
ter thus into our sleeping rooms, and
attack us after the lights are out TO
make matters worse they sing be-
tween bites, so that the horror of an
ticipation is as bad as the actual mu-
tilation of our persons.
''As soon as l got home l built a
bat tower like those I had seen, and
being disappointed in my hope that it
would be Immediately occupied, Of
fered the small boys of the vicinity
a dollar a bat for every one of the
creatures they would bring and install
in the place which had prepared for
them. got dozen bats the first week
and two hundred and five the sec
ond. That filled the tower, and with
drew the bounty offer.
l"Then / sat down and awaited re-
suits. / got them, but they were not
what T. had expected. The bats took
to their new habitation, which was
we'll provided with pegs on which they
could suspend themselves through the
pienished1 the earth, or rather the air
with fecundity which would be en-
We'd by a guinea pig. And they die
make war on the insect life which had
been disturbing our slumbers and lay
ing waste to our truck garden. But
they were too energetic, too centered
on their mission in life.
Evidently they had not Jared wei
in the old barns from which they had
been torn. They all seemed to be suf-
fering from voracious appetites If q
mosquito would pass them in the night
as they, fitted to and fro, seeking
what they might devour, three or
four of them sswould start after him
at once. "a
'The mosquitd; with the fear of death
on him, would hasten for some private
entrance he had found to our abode
through a hole in the screen. The bats
would follow, and fling themselves on
the screen as their quarry scrambled
through the! aperture. Screens are made
to restrain ansects, not to withstand
the impact off three or four bats. at
once. Always the wire gave way, and
the bats came in.
Then they would organize a hunt
for the mosquito, following him from
room to room, knocking down vases
and pictures as they flew, and often
bringing up violently against the faces
Of members of the family.
ct was useless to take brooms and
Try to shoe them out. The only possible
way to quell the. disturbance was to
switch on all the electric lights. Then
the bats would fly into the closets,
hang themselves on clothes hooks, and
remain there in waiting attitudes.
You can't sleep with the lights
on, so by and by we would switch
them off again. Then out would come
the bats and resume their mosquito
hunt, and thus it would continue till
the break of day.
"Outside, the same sort of thing was
going on. With the fall of night the
moths and other. destroyers of vege-
tation would emerge from their hid
ing places and descend on the garden.
Instantly the bats would be OH the
wing to capture or destroy them or
both, and SO rough was their pursuit
that they moved down the lettuce
and Young cabbage and tomato plants