1878. 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



else it can catch and master in an emergcnc)- 

 — that is, when inrssod with hunger. Other- 

 wise it is rallu'i' sliy of the luiinansiiecios, pre- 

 fers remote I'orests, where it Iwilils a very rough 

 nest of sticks, on very high trees, usually pine 

 tress, which it lines Willi leaves. It deposits 

 from three to six almost siiherical eg'j;s, of a 

 dirty white, or hluish white color. The sexes 

 do liot agree very well together except during 

 the nuptial season, and therefore they are 

 generally found solitary ; hut when two males 

 meet they are almost certain to have a light, 

 which often ends in till' death of one or the 

 other. The male hird takes little or no inter- 

 est in the building of the nest or in rearing 

 the young. They seem to have very little af- 

 fection for each other and therefore jirefer to 

 be "let alone." They generally come forth 

 from their retreats in the evening, or in the 

 afternoon of cloudy days, in piu'suil of prey ; 

 but they can also see in Ijright days, and 

 maraud by day as well as night, when necessi- 

 tated. 



They differ somewhat in their nesting 

 habits in different localities, adajjting them- 

 selves to surrounding circumstances; for in- 

 stance, they are said to build their nests in 

 clefts or on shelves of rocks, and also to prey 

 on fish. In the far north they aie also said to 

 become very much lighter iu color, or nearly 

 white. 



Of course, we have had our owl "dressed 

 and stuffed," but in that permanent style iu 

 which he may be perpetuated for many Christ- 

 mas days, and not in that transient manner 

 which continues but a single hour, or for a 

 day at most. In this permanent form he 

 may be "discussed" over and over again, 

 and may constitute the subject of many a 

 mental feast. 



"Who would be a turkey hen, 

 Fed and fattened in a pen, 

 Kill'd and eat liy hunsry men, 

 Upon a Christmas day" — 



when he might be as easily "immortalized" 

 in a monument.al owl in the museum of the 

 Linnrean Society V 



PROGRAMME OF MEETING OF THE 



PENNSYLVANIA BOARD OF 



AGRICULTURE. 



The Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture 

 will meet at itarrisburg, on Wednesday, .Jan- 

 uary 23, 187cS, at -2 P. :M., when the regular 

 business of the Board will be transacted, and 

 the Secretary will -read his annual report. 

 The following essays will also be read : 

 Breeding Stock. 



Best methods of inducing farmers to bieed 

 better stock, by Prof. John Hamilton, State 

 College. 



Comparative profit of difl'erent kinds of 

 stock, by J. C. Morris, of Snsciuchanna. 



The comparative cost and profit of well and 

 ill bred stock, by W. G. Moore, of Berks. 



Conditions and causes which infiuenee the 

 character, color and sex of the offspring of 

 our domestic animals, by Secretary. 

 Sheep Husbandry. 



Breeds best adapted to Pennsylvania soil 

 and climate, by Hon. John L. George, of 

 AVashington. 



Best breed for profit, by Eastburu Tteeder, 

 of Bucks. 



Effect of present dog laws, with suggestions 

 for their improvement, by J. P. Barnes, of 

 Lehigh. 



Fruit Growing by Farmers. 



How made a source of jnofit, by Rev. J.ames 

 Calder, President Pennsylvania .State College. 



Varieties best adapted to Pennsylvania, bj' 

 H. M. Engle, of Lancaster. 



How best secured and preserved, by Prof. 

 D. Wilson, of Juniata. 



When, where and how to market, by D. H. 

 Foresman, of Lycoming. 



Barnyard Manure. 



Best and most economical methods of man- 

 ufacture, by Col. James Young, of Danphin. 



Time and mode of application, by E. G. 

 Fahnestock, of Adams. 



Effect upon the various cultivated crops, by 

 A. llobinson, of Mercer. 



At 7 P. M., Wednesday, January 2,3d, Prof. 

 J. P. Lesley, State Geologist and Geologist of 

 the Board" of Agriculture, will address the 

 Legislature and Board of Agriculture. Sub- 

 ject : .Soils, as regarded from the side of 

 Geology. 



^ 



ABOUT BATS. 



[The frtllowing article, which is being widely 

 circulated through the public press, caimot 

 but be interesting to all insect-stricken read- 

 ers, especially as it illustrates the great value 

 tliat a large conniiunity of bats must be to the 

 vegetation in its vicinity, by the niglitly de- 

 struction of noxious insects. A "bat-ciive" 

 is tho best remedy against nightly insects, in 

 the known world, we verily believe. Bats 

 hang themselves up, out of the w.ay, during 

 daylight, and come forth while we are sIccik 

 ing at night, bent on their useful mission. 

 The Bexar Bat-cave would be a real godsend 

 to Lancaster county, or any other insect- 

 ridden locality in the .State. — ^^Ed.] 

 A Remarkable Bat Cave in Bexar County, 

 Texas. 



A Chicago Times correspondent who has 

 been roughing it with General Ord in Texas, 

 tells the following : 



Toward nightfall we drove toward tho bat 

 cave. There was a thunder shower all around 

 the horizon, but the fevered earth appeared to 

 evaporate the moisture as it touched the sur- 

 face. And the temporary rain brouglit the 

 heat of a Turkish bath — the perspiration roll- 

 ing down our faces in little cataracts. If any 

 of our chilly people want what they call here 

 in brief, unpoetic Saxon, "a good sweat," 

 let them come down about the middle of 

 August and wait here until about this time. 

 There will be no superfluous grease left when 

 they get through. 



When within less than a mile of the cave, 

 which is situated on the crest of a high bluff, 

 that may be called an irregular table land. 

 General Ord directed my attention to an im- 

 mense dark shadow in the horizon, extending 

 from the ground line high up into the heavens. 

 It had all the appearance of a strong volume 

 of smoke issuing from the funnel of some 

 gigantic ocean steamer. "It looks like 

 smoke," said the General, "but it is simply a 

 cloud of bats issuing from the cave." On 

 approaching nearer I could distinctly make 

 out the flying vermin, which were, truly, 

 thicker than the densest swarm of bees I 

 have ever seen, and there appeared to be no 

 end to them. We soon reached the cave, 

 which dips into a brambly gorge, and from 

 the capacious mouth shaped like the half 

 choked arch of a bridge, we could see the bats 

 flying out iu tens of thousands, the column 

 growing deeper every second. They rose 

 majestically in the ether, and then scattered 

 in pursuit of their insect prey, extending 

 themselves, doubtless, over an area of coun- 

 try simply incomputable. They go in circles, 

 or else "zigz.ig" through the air, but they 

 find their way home, no matter how far they 

 may wander, with unerring in.stinct, guided 

 in some measure, perhaps, by the strong am- 

 monial odor which arises from the guano 

 which they have deposited throughout ages in 

 their abiding place. They begin to leave the 

 cave every afternoon as .soon as the sun has, 

 in some measure, lost his power, and they 

 keep leaving at an enormous rate mitil nine 

 o'clock in the evening, remaining away until 

 the fir.st streak of dawn, when they begin to 

 return, and do not all get back until the fore- 

 noon is well advanced. They are a light-col- 

 ored bat, full of parasites, and breed a smell 

 not at all calculated to stimulate the appetite. 



The cave is as gloomy a,s the realms of 

 Pluto, having a gentle decline for some hun- 

 dreds of feet, the roof being quite lofty and 

 the floor covered to an inc.^lculable deptli 

 with guano deposit, which exhales an efflu- 

 viumcalculated to knock down the strongest 

 kind of a horse. There are two chambers, 

 one opening into the other, the first being the 



larger of the two. Both are oval in shape, 

 and would, if the bats were only away, make 

 an excellent abode for outlaws. Scott would 

 have loved to describe such a retreat in his 

 picturesque tale of "Bob Hoy AfcGrcgor." 

 The guano will be more eflii-ient as a barrier 

 against desperadoes than all the i)Olice in 

 Texas. Bats, as you know, do not perch 

 singly, but hang to the wall and to each other 

 just as bees do in "swarm." Tho tempera- 

 ture of the cave is sullicii'utly low to prevent 

 them from becoming heated, and how they 

 manage to sujiport the enormous weight of 

 their own masses is a question which only 

 practical naturalists can solve. They manage 

 to do it though, without the sliglitest appar- 

 ent discomfort. And there can not, at a 

 moderate computation, be less than thirty 

 millions of bats in those enormous caves ! 

 Just think what a destruction they work on 

 the insects of the air. Only for them neither 

 man nor beivst could stand the couidleas 

 swarms of the infernal Texas flies, which 

 have no respect for rank, age, sex, color, or 

 previous condition, and are perfectly indiffer- 

 ent about whether they bite a man with or 

 without the beastly prickly heat. 



Before the sun had fairly risen Hennessy, 

 the driver, aroiised Gen. Ord thus : "General, 

 I think you had better get up. Wc are hav- 

 ing a norther." This aroused us all, and wc 

 listened. Our camp was full two furlongs 

 from the cave, and wc could hear a sound ''.as 

 of many waters" — in volume not unlike 

 Niagara. Said Gen. Ord: "A norther! 

 Why that sound is caused by the returning 

 bats." We looked and saw the tremendous 

 column pouring down from the skies and 

 rushing with amazing velocity into the gorge 

 surrounding the mouth of the cave. Wc 

 went down to the spot, and the noise became 

 .so loud that we almost doubted whether a 

 storm was not raging around us. But the 

 trees were almost unshaken, and the sun rose 

 like a shield of flame, from beyond the heights 

 of Guadaloupe. The sweep of the moimtain 

 rains through the rocky jaws of the Cihoka 

 could not have made such conmiotion, and 

 every moment increased the tumult. We 

 stood there until we grew tired, and still that 

 mighty mass kept streaming from the loaded 

 air, while the opening of tho cave was as 

 etlectually veiled from us as if a curtain had 

 been dropped before, so deep was the volume 

 of "the returning janizaries." This con- 

 tinued, as I have already remarked, until late 

 in the morning, but we could not wait for all 

 to return. We loaded up and drove away 

 more deeply impressed with the mysteries of 

 the great universe than if a hundred long- 

 haired professors had lectured us for a month 

 in a college devoted to the teaching of natural 



history. 



^ 



JANUARY. 



Kitchen-Garden Calendar. 

 Ix THE Middle States.— .January is un- 

 favorable to out-door labor, in tiie garden es- 

 pecially but little is done. The forcing-beds 

 and green-houses will, of course, require par- 

 ticular attention ; and the active man may 

 find something to do in preparing for a more 

 congenial season. Poles and rods for be<ins 

 and peas may be made ready to use when 

 needed ; viamtre collected ; com}X>st lirnps 

 formed, (by the way, compost is beyond all 

 comparison the best form in which to apply 

 fertilizers to most vegetable crops, and ample 

 supplies may be readily made by proper atten- 

 tion, as the materials present themselves from 

 time to time during the year :) fruit trees 

 pruned ; /)«?;/« clipped — those formed of ever- 

 greens not until the frost has disappeared ; 

 (isparar/us-hcih top-dressed, preparatory to be- 

 ing dug when frost has ceased ; when new 

 ones are to be made, jtlant the calhssal. 

 Ilot-brds for early forcing may be made, and 

 other jobs will present themselves in anticipa- 

 tion of spring. Where there exists the will 

 to work, the opportunity for the useful dis- 

 position of time is ever present. — Lundretti's 

 R. B. .1- A. 



