The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1885-03-27
FROG FARMING EXPERIMENTS,
The Ptoflts and Losses Attending
tho Peculiar induatry.

~ Y. Mail and Express.
''What do | think of the establishment
of frog farms in the United States to sup
ply the demand in Europe? 1t is fine
idea in theory only" remarked a state
fish commissioner.
why doyou say il theory oniyE"
Because it has already been tried.
Experiments in frog farming have prov
ed futile, and the man who attempts 1t
gets some experience and no recon-
pense for trouble. Several frog farms
have been started, always with the same
result. The reason they do not succeed
is simply this: it is very difficult to pro-
vide proper and sufficient food for them
during their infantile period. The birds
eat the tadpolcs and the adult frogs live
upon insects, leaving their watery swami
py habitation sand skirmishing around
on the land for them. In farm they
cannot well forage for insects, there are
so many confined to a limited area. 1t
is utterly impossible to catch enough in
sects to satisfy ami gormandize the
farm. They prey upon each other. The
baby frog is greedily devoured by the
large bull-frog, who floats along in a
stagnant pool with his mouth open,
swapping them up with avidity. 1t IS
survival of the fittest. The fittest in
this case are not enough to pay for those
that perished The embryo jelly that
floats along covered over with green
ooze from weeds, from whose pores
/ 600 frogs may germinate in the war of
the hungry and strong over the weak
does not escape. a farm started sever
al season ago near Caledonia, in Livings-
ton county, this state, proved an eyre
gious failure and dead expense for the
reasons I have mentioned. If it could
be done successfully there would be mil
lions in it. 1t is a Utopian dream, the
fulfillment Of which l think, will be
many years from the present"
Are many frogs consumed daily in
New York;"
"Yes. During the summer months
from 1000 to 1900 pounds are eaten
daily. They ase shipped fresh to this
market from Canada, principally in large
half barrels. The love for frog meat is
on the increase. Epicures and men of
extreme wealth give exhorbitant prices
for them. The large green bullfrogs is
the chief kind sold in this market, In
| Chicago they are called water chickens,
because their flesh is white as that of
chicken when dressed"
The import and export partner OF
large Who'll esale grocery establishment
said that no canned frogs were exported
to Europe. ''The fact is, there are no
canned frogs for sale worth mentioning.
In the eastern part of the British pro-
vinces and Canada a few were put up
in cans. 1t did not pay and they stop
ped. Then a little while ago the indus
try was started on Prince Edwards is
land but the facility for shipping live
frogs killed it, and to-day canned frogs
are a rarity. Thousands upon thou
sands of frogs are shipped to Europe
each summer and fall, alive. They are
placed in large baskets, between layers
of damp moss and leaves. When they
arrive at their destination they are
healthy and sound and free from fever.
The stock of frogs in Europe is limited.
I lived in France twenty-seven years, and
never tasted one during that period. Al
| though the French are called a nation of
frog eaters, yet they do not consume one
tenth as many as the people of the Uni
ted States. The frogs there are few and
of very inferior size. the largest not
being two and half inches long. They
are stunted in growth, and do not seem
to multiply as fast here"