Mexico weekly ledger., 1890-09-11
BILLS BATRACHIANs.
Col. VIM. Waddingham's Pro.
life Frog Farms in the
Illinois Bottoms.
From the st. Joseph Ballot

1AA name in this community
4S1W is . household word, is
the possessor of i've or six large
tracts of land in the Illinois bot
toms on the opposite side of the
Mississippi River, a little south
Of st. Louis, and within easy
distance. He is extensively in
the frog business. Much of those
bottom lands are msrshy and
swampy and untitled for agricul-
tural purposes. Many years ago
Mr.. Waddingham conceived the
idea of frog farming, and after clean.
ing up the swamp lands with the
improved scrapers and inclosing
several hundreds of acres with q
strong wire fence, and otherwise
beautifying the grounds surround
ing these marshy places, he soon
became the possessor of a hugo frog
farm. But the stock of frogs was
not of the best kind, and he was
told that the French breed was far
superior to the volunteer stock that
sprung up promiscuously in any
and all small and Indifferent pools
of standing water. Convinced that
he had the grounds and the fresh
spring water, he was determined
to experiment in the breeding,
raising and selling of the delicious
amphibious animals. He made q
trip to Paris and there investigated
the propagating and handling Of
this palatable luxury. When thor.
oughly acquainted with the habits
and breeding of the animals, he
was the more convinced that big
money was in the business. He
made arrangements to have ship
ped from France to him twenty.
five female frogs, which landed in
good order and condition at East
st. Louis. From there they were
conveyed to his froggery in the Ill.
inois bottoms and turned loose to
roam over the placid waters that
sparkled far and wide. In less than
q year the new foreign stock had
completely driven the native breed
from the swamps, and he was ship
ping the French" article to st.
Louis and Chicago. He had a con.
tract with several packing and
slaughter houses for the offsl, which
was hauled to the different frog
geries. Stale bread and broken
crackers were also used in feeding,
besides the innumerable insects and
water wiggles that abound in such
damp and marshy districts, made
up the provender from which the
animals grew fat. 1t was q sight
to see thousands, both great and
small, of these frogs jumping to
their accustomed places at feeding
time. They were fed twice day.
They were captured by seines, then
thrown into barrels-the larger ones
retained and the smaller turned
back into the water. Mer and wo-
men were engaged to clean and
dress them for market-strung on
strings with one dozen pairs of legs
to the bunch, and every morning
they we're thus shipped to their
destination, fresh and sweet. When
they first came into the market they
sold as high as s2 per dozen, but
the price fluctuated according ~
the demand, and sometimes drop.
ped ss low as 5Oc, but would aver
age 81 per dozen through the sea-
son. During the winter months
they would disappear by burying
themselves in the mud along the
outer edge of the lake or swamp.
1t requires a French frog about
three months to mature-that ia to
say, large enough to market, but
they are grown at the age of 8 or 6
months, while the American frog
requires fully 8 months, and ther
is not more than three quarters the
size OF the French animal-the lat.
ter a most beautiful yellowish green
color, with golden spots all oveI
his body.