The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-05
A CITY OF FRoG EATERS.
New York People Eat More Frogs than
Anywhere Else ON Earth.
New York Herald.


Frequenters of Fulton Market have been
much interested during the past week at
the sight of nearly one Thousand big bull
frogs swimming contentediy III one or Com
missioner blackfords big tanks. / CHANGED
TO be among the spectators, and, with 9th
erS, conceived the popular belief that the
frogs had been brought to market to be
Killed and eaten. Commissioner Biackford,
however, set this IDEA all awry when L said
frogs" to him.
the live frogs that you see out there"
SAID the commissioner, ARE brought TO
New York solely Tor sale among schools
and colleges. The frog is very popular
subject IN the classroom, and there are
ever so many ways in which he is used to
denote the circulation of the blood. His
vltahty is very great, and under skillful
knife you can see the complete working
of his heart. Scientists use him for expert
nenting. also. Students or messengers take
the frogs away in kettles or boxes, ana We
charge them s. a dozen,
The frogs meant to be eaten are shipped
TO New York already dressed. That means
that we receive the back legs or the saddle
packed in Ice and ready to sell to the con-
sumner. If they should ship all the frogs
alive the cost in transportation would be
enormous and would make the price so
hlSn that only wealthy people could afford
to eat them"
Are there many frogs legs eaten in New
York;"
There is not a city in the world" said
Commissioner Blackford, that consumes
SO many frogs legs as New York"
More than in PariS?"
Yes indeed" replied the commissioner.
while, years ago, the French were COM
monty known as frog eaters the New
Workers to-day should more properly be
called frog eating people rather than the
Parisians. seldom found the dish on the
menus in the restaurants of Paris, while in
New York you can get them at nearly
every hrst-class hotel and restaurant. This
dish is not common in London, and only
few of the high-grade restaurants there
prepare it,
According to Commissioner Blackford's
hO1rGE mont go 60.
the New York market are shipped from
the Ontario district, in Canada. The re-
naming 70 per cent. come from the Adj
rondacks and the State of Maine. Frogs are
very plentiful in all of these districts and
they multiply so rapidly that there is no
danger of a decrease in the supply for years
to come. About six of the saddles of these
frogs weigh pound and retail at rs cents
me largest frogs in the world come from
the State of Missouri, but they are scarce
and do not figure largely in New York
market Three of these SAD lies will make
pound. Great quantities of frogs are to
be found in the New Jersey meadows, but
they are so small that a pound of dressed
legs cannot be obtained from less than two
or three dozen frogs. Occasionally a farm
erS boy will bring forty or fifty of these
frogs to market, but the pay is so small
compared with the amount of work re-
quired in the hunt that no one makes a
regular business of searching the adjacent
meadows.
The frog taking season begins about June
ana continues steadily until Sept l.
throughout Canada there are many men
who make a regular business of frog catch
ing, while in the .Adirondacks the work is
done by the guides during their snare
hours. The animals are caught with a hook
DATED with red flannel and suspended from
rod about ten feet in length. There is a
sshbrange fascination about red flannel that
the ordinary croaker cannot resist The mo-
nent II is dangled within few inches of
ms nose ne makes wild leap at it, with
NV VIDE open, and is promptly hooked.
released and in, hfrr hoe
carried on the back of the frog hunter
oolmeuIheS the frog is found to be Sleep
ing. Then the hook is placed urder him and
a quick jerk lands him. When the basket is
hlled the frogs are carried to a pen in one
corner or the pond near the hutS of the hum
tiers and are kept there until there is a de-
nand for them from New York. They are
tnen scooped out of the pen with a net and
killed and dressed.
This operation is very simple The frog is
stunned with blow on the head and imme-
diately the head is severed Then the skin
Is sr ioosened at the top and in jffy it comes
from the body with one blow, and + legs
are folded together as one would his
arms. They are packed in boxes of -.5,. ed
ice and are ready for shipment
During the summer months the New York
market receives from s, 600 to 49, go z lnds Of
dressed saddles daily. The retail prl2e then
reaches the lowest notch of Is cents z.
pound. AT present about 1900 pounds pass
through the markets every day. AS it is ini-
possible to take the frog during the winter
immense quantities of the saddles are froz-
en- during the early autumn and stored III
ice boxes. The meat retains it's full flavor
and is as good as if it had been killed the
day previous.
A great many attempts have been made
toward the artificial propagation of frogs
from the eggs, but none has ever succeeded.
| Seth Green, one of the most successful fish
culturists in the country, made many tests
several years ago, but met with failure.
! During the past summer Commissioner
| Blackford received several orders from
! France for live bullfrogs which were to be
he I,nf
! as the supply was found to be falling below
! the demand.