Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-08-14
FACTS ABOUT FROGS.
How They are Caught-Frog Farms Com.
mon-Ihe Prices.

mon-Ihe Prices.
From the Cincinnati Times-Star.]
Frogs ~ said game dealer to a re-
porter. "Yes, Cincinnati eats over 5000
frogs daily. The custom of eating the
batrachians was introduced from France,
of course They were at first eaten only
by epicureans who were in search of novel;
ties, but now all classes of people down
them with equal relish.
"Frogs are sent here from many places,
but Michigan takes the lead, and especi-
ally Dalton, in the southern part of Barry
county. Here the swauips abound with the
merry musicians, and they are caught by
thousands. Several methods are adopted
in their capture. Some are seined, others
are taught on hooks baited with bit of
red cloth, and others are caught by being
blinded by the light from a dark lantern
at night and scooped up in hand-nets.
But by no means all are wild frogs, as
many farmers have frog farms, where the
spawns are carefully Matched and the
young frogs put into swamps inclosed by
fences of wire netting. The different ages
must be separated or the larger ones will
devour the smaller. They are driven
from one pen to another like flock of
sheep, and there is nothing more ludicrous
than large number Of them on journey
of this kind. They are kept moving by
boys with long poles, who beat the swamp
behind them. These cultivated ones must
be taken the same as wild ones, when de-
sired for the market Farmers make a
nice thing out of their cultivation; boys
and girls are engaged in catching them,
and they net on an average IS cents per
dozen.
''They are shipped in lots of ten dozen
each, in crates made of wooden lath and
about three inches deep. The crates are
made shallow that the frogs may not climb
on top of one another in transit, and thus
be smothered. The crates are sent by ex-
press and are sprinkled often with water
on the way. Arrived here, they are placed
in zinc-lined watts with little water. They
are sold at 81 25 to 81 so dozen by us
and are never killed until just before de-
livery. Express charges are ten cents a
dozen.
"Some large species come from the South,
but they are always shipped dressed, and
as we never know how long they have been
killed, we seldom handle them.
"They are very tenacious of life, and
become dormant during the winter the
same as snakes. | once had number left
over in the fall and dumped them into a
barrel in the yard, supposing they were
dead. They froze solid during the winter,
but upon the opening of spring suddenly
became active and hoped all over the
yard. leaving the barrel empty. Nobody
need ever be in doubt as to the freshness
of their frog meat, for if sprinkled with
salt they will culver as if under the inhu-
ence of an electrical current several days
after being killed. They are very digest
ible The other day very large one
swallowed one of his companions, and
upon being killed few hours later scarcely
trace of the luckless younger brother
could be found.n
A frog was dressed for the edifcation of
the reporter A fat fellow was seized by
the hind legs, given slap against the
edge of the vat to stun him, his head was
cut off at one stroke of the knife, then the
boy ripped the skin down the belly and
the whole skin stripped off at one jerk.
Another motion cleared away the entrails
and the frog lay quivering on the slab in
less time than it takes to tell it. The
head lay blinking at the body, and seemed
as much alive as ever, while under
plentiful shower of salt the body ex-
hibited all the motion of live frog. The
season runs from early spring till late in
the fall. Only the hind legs were for
merly eaten, but now the whole body is
used.