Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1889-11-01
FROG FOOD.
THE DEMAND MUCH GREATER
THAN THE; SUPPLY.
Raising Frogs for the Market
frcnchmcn thc First Frog Eaters
Now Consumed by People
Of All Nationa!itics.

| ihcrc is u constant demand i'll all the
great markets of the country for more
frogs legs than are supplied, and the
price seldom falls very low. "Frop cul.
turc, " said Fish Commissioner Eugene G.
l}iackford to a New York Nail anal Err.
press writer, sis still in its tadpolc state.
Frogs breed just like fish. 1t is easy TO
get the spawn and to hatch it out. As
you arc probably aware, the hatchinrs are
tadpoles, minute, .lobular mass with Il
vibrating tail. These little fellows at
ilrSt are half transparent, but rapidly
darken IN color and increase in size. AT
terra few weeks the tail shrives, the legs
make an appearance, the head separates
from the body and the tadpole has be-
come frog. lie is Il very active and vi
vaclous young person ut this time, and
cats all sorts of animal food.
Frog culturists Il. this stage feed him
with raw meat, liver, heart and waste
that have been chopped very fine. lie
grows rapidly until he is six months old
and then invariably falls sick, and in a,
majority of cases dies. The reason an
pears to lie i'll the diet. So far ms we
Know, frog lives on insects. lie prefers
them alive, but when hungry eats them
when they are dead. In these cases, when
frogs have been fed OF flies, they have al
ways prospcrcd.
las 1T is apractical impossibility TO get
enough ilics and other insects to feed y
regiment OF these batrachans the frog
farmer is compelled to use meat instead
The result is the sickness and mortality |
have described. Ii is so Great rs to make
all frog culture Il financial failure. Out
of hundred frogs, anywhere from sixty
to ninety-liye die when they are six
months old. Seth Green, the authority on
such inatters, tried it on Il large scale at
Canandaigla, think He had no trouble.
III Matching hundreds OF thousands, if not
millions, of tadpolcs, and even less
trouble in raising them until they were
live months old. Then they began to
Slc';cn and die. The mortality increased,
until ut the end of the year the number
winch were left was as inconsidcrablc as
TO he not worth mentioning.
Even rs ii stands, Il great deal of
work is being done. Frogs are, if not
raised, ut lcas! fed and fa;tencd for the
market i'll New York, New Jersey, and
especially i'll Ontario, Canada; Tennessee
and many of the Western States. There
Is Il wonderful variety in the sizes at
tanned. Those around this part of the
country are seldom large.
"a dozen pair of hind legs from New
York and New Jersey weigh Il pound on
an average; the same number from
Ontario will run three or four pounds.
while from Tennessee and Missouri they
80 us high rs five and even six pounds.
The consumer naturally prefers y large to
a small leg. This is well illustrated by
the price list. When the New York and
New Jersey frogs lave Il monopoly of the
iarket-cold weather keeping Canadian
and high frcights Western articles ont OF
the city, because they cannot be caught
in cold wcatlicr-thcy bring from thirty to
fifty cents = pound. When later on in the
year, the Ontario legs are received.
the domestic article falls to twenty cents
and the Ontario and Westerns bring from
forty to sixty cents Il pound. In Ontario
Inc frog business is conducted OH Il large
scale.
The demand for frogs legs increases
much more rapidly than the supply, and
1T Is no uncommon thing TO dispose
OF two and even three thousand
pounds in one morning. At first this de
mand was confined 10 French and Italians.
but by degrees, the Germans and then
the Americans began to call for frogs,
until finally every rst-class hotel and
restaurant in the land had them upon
their bill OF fare, and unless frogs are
raised in captivity the price will lie so
high i'll q few years rs to make the del
icacy Il luxury rs costly as the finest
tcrrapin.