The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-08-04
THE SCARCITY OF FROGS.
Impossible to Breed Them Fast Enough
to Satisfy the Demand,
(fsoDiD.jghf 1SSQ)

Copyright, 1881
New YoRK, Aug. st is fair to as
sumo that the frog, with all the force of
whatever intellect he may possess, revolts
at the pubic attantion that is from time to
time directed toward him. Brek-ek-kek-
hoax is naturally of a shy and retiring dis
position, actively seeking seclusion on all
occasions where men desire to crafty their
fondness for him, andsit is safe to say that be
loves mon far less than men love him.
This is natural, for the fondness men have
for the queer little amphibian is solely due
30 the promptings of the palate and stom-
ach, and mans love is death to the frogs y
Naturally he objects and shrinks modestly
from observation when the hunter pursues
him. Nevertheless the pursuit is kept up
and from year to year almost countless
numbers of the batrachians are slain.
Mr.. Frog begins life as tadpole, and tad
poles are easily Matched and reared The
fertile American commercial instinct from
time to time seiZeS on the notion that moth
ing is much easier than to procure a suita-
| BILE marsh, stock it with tadpoles. furnish
cheap food which is all that is assumed to
be necessary, aud wait for the tadpole
to become frogs and multiply. Then, ar
! que many sanguine persons, it will be easy
| to supply the ,.arket with frogs legs at 30
| or 40 or 80 eents pound One proposition
| which goes support the theory of this
| scheme is ipdisputable. There is a con-
slant demand in all the great markets OF
this country for more frogs legs than are
ever supplied, and the price seldom falls
very low.
| 1t was with a view to learning facts about
! these frog farms, how they are conducted,
| where they are, and what the measure of
| their success has been, that | applied to
| Fish Commissioner Eugene G.. Blackboard.
| Frog culture, said the commissioner,
| sis still in its tadpole state. The facts are
very few and simple. Frogs breed Just like
fish. 1t is easy to get the spawn aud to
hatch it out AS you are probably aware.
| the hatchings are tadpole, a minute globu-
lar mass with vibrating tail. These little
| fellows at first are half-transparent but
| rapidly darken in color and increase in size.
| After few weeks the tail shrives, the legs
make an appearance, the head separates
| from the body and the tadpole has become
a frog. He is a very active aud vivacious
| young person at this time and eats all sorts
| Of animal food. Frog cultursts at this
stage feed him with raw meat, liver, heart
and waste that have been chopped very
| fine He grows rapidly until he is six
| months old and then invariably falls sick
and in a majority of cases dies The reason
| appears to lie in the diet So far as we
know a frog lives on insects. He prefers
| them alive, but when hungry eats them
| when they are dead. In these cases when
! frogs have been fed on flies, they have al
ways prospered. As 1t is a practical i'm
possibility to get enough flies and other IN
sects TO feed regiment of these hatrach-
| ians tie frog farmer is compelled TO use
meat, instead, The result is the sickness
and mortality ! have describei. Ii is 80
| great as to make all frog culture a financial
| failure. Out of a hundred froes, any
where from sixty to ninety-five die when
| they are six months old.
| There have been many attempts at rails
| ing frogs for the market and many are
| going on to-day. Thus far none have been
| altogether successful. Seth Green. the
| great authority on such matters tried it on
| a large scale at Cannandagua, l think He
| had 10 trouble III hatching hundreds of
thousands, if not millions Of tadpoles, and
even less trouble in raising them until the Y
were i've months old. Then they began to
sicken and die. The mortality increased
until at the end OF year the number taat
| was left was us uncomfortable as to be not
worth mentioning.
EVEN IS IL statids, a great deal of work
is being done. Frogs are, if not raised, at
least fed and fattened for the market in
Now York, New Jersey and especially IN
/ Ontario, Ca0edG, Ie nessce and many OF
Inc WESTERN states. Thers il wonderful