Cottonwood report. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1893-1901, 1898-03-25
OUR FROG FARM.

Wacu announced TO the family at
breakfast one morning that Tom Dun
can and / were about to start frog
farm, father stared at me over his spec
tacles, and calculated, What next?"
Who ever heard of such thing!'
exclaimed my sister Kate, her eyes
twinkling with amusement.
The idea is original with us, and we
have investigated the business far
/ enough to convince us that frog-farm-
Ing is not only practicable, but quite
profitable aslwell," replied, meanwhile
opening a newspaper which had kept
carefully folded in my coat pocket for
more than a week, and turning to the
following well-figured advertisement,
which read aloud:
Frogs Wanted.-Highest market price
paid for large, plump frogs, alive or
fresh dressed.
Beneath this was the address of a
Chicago restaurant-keeper and in the
market report, in another column,
pointed out the prices paid for edible
frogs. All this seemed to convince the
family that was in earnest, and pro-
ceeded to make known to them the plan
which my friend and had already be-
gun to execute. e
Tom Duncan, Twill state here, lived
with his parents on an adjoining farm,
and like myself, had just passed his six
teenth year. We had long been chums,
both In school and out, and never were
two boys more actively engaged than
we during that summer vacation.
On my fathers farm was an aban-
doned mill race, from which my grand
father, years before, had obtained pow
or to run water-mill. Very little of
the building remained, and the wood
en- flume that conducted water to the
oyershot wheel had gone down with the
wheel itself. But the entertainments for
the dam and race were still well pre-
served, and 1t was this part of the old
mill site that we proposed to convert in
to frog farm.
With the assistance of Bob White, a
kind old negro who had dwelt with my
father for many years, we had succeed
ed in repairing the dam to it's former
capacity, and the mill-race was once
more flowing stream, from ten to fif-
teen feet wide, with the flood-gates so
arranged as to fix the water at any
depth between one and four feet.
Along each side of this rather novel
farm We constructed closed fence,
three feet high, to prevent the frogs
from escaping; for these creatures
sometimes become dissatisfied with
their location, and in one night will en-
tirely vacate their home, and crossing
field and wood in drove, take up quar-
tiers in neighboring pond
1t was now midspring. and in the still
water of the bayous along the river the
frogs were piping loudly. Bob White
knew all about frog life as he did
about everything else that lived in
woGd or stream. and father having not
only approved of our venture, but kind
ly rendered us the services of his faith
full servant, we lost no time in equip
ping ourselves for the work before us.
There are two varieties of edible
frogs, and both are commonly known
as bullfrogs; but they differ in size,
form and color, as well as in habits.
The smaller kind is known in zoology
as Rama mugiens, and is designated by
hunters as the grass-frog or long-leap-
sr. The fact that it is usually found
in the tall grass along the margin of
ponds and in marshy meadows suggests
the first name, and its ability to leap
distance of twenty or more feet when
suddenly startled has won it second
and quite euphonious title.
It is slenderly formed, and stretched
a full length seldom measures more
than ten inches. Its shoulders, back
and shapely hind legs or saddles" are
beautifully striped in green and yell
low. On account of their size they are
less preferred for table use than the
American builfrog, the Rama esculenta
nf biologists.
The 6ullfros is the largest of the