43 



Jjetween San Antonio and Seguin, where the former prairies 

 are covered with a luxuriant growth of trees* in a soil as 

 rich as the best lands near New Braunfels, now made so pro- 

 ductive by the Germans. Throughout most of the State, the 

 3feieat in summer is seldom more than one hundred degrees. 

 In central Texas, and westward from Fort Concho to Port 

 Stockton, south winds prevail during the day in the sum- 

 mer time, beginning about 9 a. m. They are generally 

 cool and pleasant. In the valley of the Rio Grande, above 

 Presidio, such winds are far from being of daily occur- 

 rence, nor are the cold north winds of winter common 

 there. Below is the range of the thermometer for 18 years 

 at Austin, condensed from Prof. Nostrand' s observations : 



High'et. Low'st. Iligh'st. Lon'st. Higli'st. Lovi-'«t High'st, Low'st. 



.1858.. 98.. 22 1863.. 99.. 17 1868.. 96.. 15 1873.. 96.. 13.. 



1859.. 101.. 10 1864.. 99.. 6 1869.. 97.. 19 1874. .104.. 28.. 



I860.. 107.. 18 1865.. 106.. 18 1870.. 96.. 11 1875 to Aug. 1, 99-10 



1861.. 100.. 23 1866.. 96.. 21 1871.. 102.. 22 



1862.. 104.. 28 1867.. 98.. 17 1872.. 99.. 15 



BAT CAVES. 



We again visited the bat cave in the western part ot 

 Burnet county, not far from Bluffton. This cave has large 

 quantities of bat guano, good for the manufacture of salt- 

 petre, or it can be used as a fertilizer, being equal, if not 

 superior, to much of the imported guano. 



In the southern part ot Llano county there was a bat 

 cave which would have been valuable for its contents had 

 it not been intentionally or carelessly set on fire, which 

 expelled the bats and destroyed the guano. 



There are said to be other bat caves still farther west. 

 They are more or less valuable, and should be preserved. 



BOKES AS FERTILIZERS. 



* 



Over the prairies of Texas, especially in the cattle re- 

 gions, are large quantities of bones scattered on the ground. 

 As is well known, these bones are valuable as fertilizers. 

 In some of the northern counties, buffalo bones lie here and 

 there at short intervals on the plains. 



It is said that many of the settlers in Kansas, in the val- 

 ley of the Arkansas river, have made the gathering of 

 buffalo bones profitable; especially along the railroad lines, 

 to the distance of forty miles on each side of them, these 



