The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-10-19
FROGS FROM MINNESOTA.
The States Many Lakes Furnish the
Most and the Best.

St Paul Letter to Chicago Record.
St Paul and Minneapolis are the larg-
est frog markets i'm the world. The total
receipts for the past year from the frog
catchers of the state exceeded 500,0JO doz-
en-, requiring the slaughter of no less than
100000 frogs. Five years ago no frogs
were shipped out of Minnesota. Now the
business amounts to upward OF Sl0o'wO a
year A wonderful industry has grown
up in st. Paul and Minneapolis Sn supply
ing the United States with rro9s legs.
Frogs are found in other states, Oh course
In the South the supply will prob, kly new
er become exhausted, but there are no
frogs like the Minnesota product 10 Nhe
epicuTe. This is attributed to the - ear
cool water which is found in MinnesoA ;
10000 lakes in which the frogs live. FrosA
legs are purchased all through the statoN
by shippers from the two cities. and the
occupation gives employment to more than
100 families. who make a good living the
year round.
The greatest demand for frogs legs ex-
lists In the larger cities and comes largely
from hotels and restaurants but through
out the coal and iron districts a good de
mand for them is growing. In st. Paul
and Minneapolis frogs legs are to be
found on the bill of fare of nearly every
hotel AMI restaurant. Here they cost from
30 to 30 cents per dozen.
The frog-catchers are located near the
smaller lakes throughout the state. The
heaviest catches are in the fall and spring.
The frog breeds very fast and as 1t only
requires couple of months for them to
attain full size. 1t is easy to understand
how almost impossible ii will be to exhaust
the supply to be found in and around the
various lakes and ponds of the state,
which probably number more than 100000
breeding places.
Unlike oysters, there is a good demand
for frogs legs all the year round and it
is necessary to hunt them in the winter
time, when The ground is frozen TO the
depth of two or three feet, and the ice
covers the ponds to the thickness of from
twenty-fouT 10 thirty-siX inches. But with
these drawbacks II is not difficult TO gather
in $40 a day at this occupation. When the
frogs take TO the water in the fan the
professional frog-catcher watches them
and learns where they nest. He waits I'M
til the prices are higher in the winter, and
cuts the ice over the nest, scoOping out
great nests fun of frogs. AS many as 500
to 1000 can be secured in one of these
nests in good seasons. This keeps up the
supply the year round, and makes the
market a steady one comparatively. No eff
fort has yet been made to establish frog
hatcheries or to cultivate the frog the
natural supply being so large.
The frog-catcher kills the frogs with
stick and gathers them up in his bag as
he walks around the various lakes and
ponds. He has no capital invested, and
realizes from S. to $40 per day for che time
he is employed in the occupation. The av-
erage price obtained for frogs legs in this
market at wholesale is from to s cents
per dozen during the summer, but they
go as high as 10 cents during the winter
month The demand for frogs legs is
steady from certain customers of the st.
Paul shippers. One of the leading New
York hotels has standing order for fifty
dozen per day. Cincinnati and Chicago
also have a number of houses that have
standing orders for from thirty-five 10
fifty dozen daily, and the orders are being
gradually increased as the public taste is
educated to appreciate this delicacy. They
are all shipped by express, packed in ice.
In the cold storage houses here there are
now about 200 dozen frogs legs held as a
reserve for emergency, the dealers often
being called upon to supply an unusually