50 . KEPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



the Department and a statement of their analysis, I will detail some of 

 the information concerning the deposits, as furnished by our corre- 

 spondents. 



Mr. J. Laync, McDowell, Highland County, Virginia, reports caves 

 containing deposits on the lands of the following gentlemen : John T. 

 Armstrong, 2; Samuel Armstrong, 2; Jonathan Lirous, 1 ; H. C. Jones's 

 property, on Cave Mountain, 2 or more; on property of James Woods, 

 on Jackson's Eiver, 1. Mr. Layue states that from all of these caves 

 large amounts of saltpeter were made during the war, and vast quanti- 

 ties of fertilizing material could bo obtained from them at any time. 



Mr. li. E. Talbot, Georgetown, Williamson County, Texas, sent 

 samples of deposit, with the following statement: "I inclose a sample 

 of bat-excrement from the cave of William K. Foster, two and a half 

 miles from Georgetown. The amount of the deposit is large, supposed 

 to be hundreds of tons. Many ajjartments of the cave are filled to the 

 mouth, making it impossible to tell how extensive the cave is, or the 

 amount of excrement in it. For a space of about 100 yards long by 

 20 yards wide, near the mouth, it is from G to 10 feet deep." 



Mr. S. B. Thornton, Tuscumbia, Ala., reports "a deposit in a cave 

 three miles west of that place, worked by a gentleman, who considers the 

 deposit worth $20,000. The cave is 80 or 90 feet deep. Material from 

 it has been tried upon corn with very favorable results." 



Mr. Hugh J. Brady, Spencer, Tenn., sent a sample taken from an 

 extensive deposit found in a cave, one division of which "measures one 

 mile in length and 50 feet in width. This is the main room. The cave 

 has been surveyed for a distance of three miles. A New York company 

 manufactured saltpeter from the deposit for a number of years, but 

 finally failed." The deposit is believed to be of great value. 



Mr. H. Weir, San Antonio, Tex., writes : 



I sent you by express, October 26, one can of baf-guano, contaiuiug about ten 

 pounds, taken ironi my cave, about twenty miles northeast of this city. There is a 

 large deposit in this cave, say fifteen or twenty thousand tons, and yearly increasing. 

 I should bo pleased to get your analysis of this sample, and will cheerfully give you 

 any further information you may desire with regard to this cave, or others in this 

 Bection. 



Mr. William H. Bayne, postmaster at Batesville, Ark., reports one 

 cave in his vicinity which contains a large deposit of bat-excrement, 

 and is at present the resort of immense numbers of bats. 



Mr. r. A. Kendrick, Brierfield, Bibb County, Alabama, reported a 

 cave on Six Mile Creek, in Bibb County, and, in response to a request 

 for a sample of the deposit, sent it, with the following communication: 



In reply to your favor of September 9, 1 would say I have visited the cave in ques- 

 tion, and forward by to-day's mail samples of excrement of bats and dirt from the 

 floor of tlio cave. This material was used by the Confederate government during the 

 war for manufacture of saltpeter. Both the dirt and the excrement are found iu large 

 quantities. 



The entrance to the cave is 10^ feet high and 20 feet wide. Thirty feet from the en- 

 trance the interior is about 15 feet high, and here commences a series of rooms contain- 

 ing the dirt and manure. A tram-road, used by the Confederate government, runs a 

 quarter of a mile into the cave, but beyond this it has never been explored. Its extent 

 is, theroforc, unknown. It is iu a limestone formation, and situate seven miles from 

 the Selma, Rome and Dalton Railroad, and half a mile from Six Mile Creek. 



Mr. J. A. V. Pue writes from Bandera, Texas : 



In reply to circular of May 27, 1875, 1 have the honor to state that there is a bat-cave 

 situated on West Verde Creek, about 8 miles southwest from Bandera, on a survey be- 

 longing to Joseph Ney. During the war large quantities of saltpeter were manufact- 

 ured from it for a time, when it was fired accidentally or designedly. It is now a 

 mass of ashes, from 3 to 5 feet in depth, as far as it has been explored — a distance of 

 about 400 yards. The width of the cave is from 7 to 30 feet. The deposit has never 

 been used for agricultural purposes. 



