The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-08-20
MISS SPECIES FROG FARM.
one of the Sights of California.


 The largest frog farm in the world is near Siege, Cal, a flag station about four miles from Berkely, and an hours s ride from San Franciso. The proprietor of the ranch is Miss Edith Stege, whose father was an early settler in that vicinity. The frog ranch upon the Stege farm covers more than six acres. Within these ponds there are hundreds of frogs ranging in all sizes and stages of growth from the smallest pollywog just matched from the egg, to the enor- nous bull-frogs, some of them as large as a mans hat and capable of swallow ing a 4-inch sunfish or an ordinary green frog at gully. Last year Miss Stewge marketed 2,60O dozen frogs legs, from which she netted more than $1,SO0. Prices for frogs legs in past year aver aged all the way from 26 cents to $2 a dozen. according to the readiness with which the frogs could be captured in the different seasons of the year.
 Until three and one-half years ago frogs were an uncultivated produst on the Stege farm. When Miss Stege as- suned charge of the farm, however, she turned every natural resource to advan- tage and rendered every portion of the farm eitehr useful or ornamental. For several years before she assumed charge Miss Stege had watched the boys come down to the big ponds which served to water dairy stock and catch frogs for the San Francisco market She found that some of these boys made several dollars each on a lucky day. Being con- vinced that the output of the ponds would increase if the big frogs were prevented from devouring the smaller frogs and pollywogs, Miss Stege at once turned her executive ability and practical tastes to account. She divided the ponds into four sections, building a closed board fence three feet high around each section. Several small pools at the end of the pond were drained, lined with cement on the bot tom and walled up three feet above the ground. These pools are used for breeding pollywogs, and since attention has been given to rearing pollywogs and caring for them until large enough to shift for themselves the output of the frog ranch is many times greater than before. The pollywog pools are not more than foot in depth and not more than forty feet square each way. In these pools live the pollywogs in various stages of growth. safe from the water snakes, minnows curlew, sea gulls, big bull frogs and the larger little frogs, who have just lost their tails. As the pollywogs grow into frogs they are moved to more spacious quarters by means of a large, long-handled scoop net. When they are three-Guarters or half grown-from four to six months old they are put into the big ponds, being considered large and active enough to protect themselves.
 Miss Stege has thousands and thou sands of frogs upon her frog ranch. In fact she doesn't know herself just how many there are in the ponds. Each fe- male spaWns from 1000 to 5000 hatch able eggs, and out of these eggs proba- bly, one out of every ten on the ranch becomes a full grown marketable frog; the remainder disappear in various ways or are devoured despite every precaution; for frogs are great travellers in croaking season and sometimes big croaker will wander off in the night and be found in the morning in one of the small inclosures we'll stuffed with polly wogs. Miss Stege says she is convinced that the proper way to raise frogs on a wholesale basis is to adopt the plan of the fish hatcheries and protect the poliywogs and eggs.
 The pollywogs on the Siege ranch are fed on bran and cracker crumbs finely pulverized. The water, while partly fresh is tepid and filled with water plants from which the youngest of the pollywogs seem to derive plenty of feed The bullfrogs live upon the small fish which inhabit the pond and upon what food naturally comes their way. The best season for catching the frogs in California is in the months of July and August. when they are much upon the surface, and when, according to the time to Joking after the ponds, the frogs sing"
 Itis a queer sight too see some great bulIfrog floating on the surface of the pond, motionless, alert, his powerful legs spread slantingly in the water and his ludicrously bulging eyes making one think of peas stuck to his head with a -. s..-.----.---.s--.------@