The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-09-25

manner worthy of a beast that brings from s3.60 to $S a dozen
 Three ponds have been constructed in the rear of the grounds, the largest being 200 feet long. Each oblong of water is the cen- ter of bit of landscape at this, time of the year is tinctured with all the grens and browns and secret shadows that au- tumn brings to earth. Lilies. oleanders and weeping willows. tapestrfed with vine and moss, and ponderous with gloom, sur round the temples of this frogland and fil- ter the sunlight that falls upon it.
 Here in the twilishts if springtime the frog buIges his cheeks and grunts his throaty melody across the pond. Another takes up the chant and then another. until the precinct sounds as if the earths axis were out of gear and creaked for lack of oil- ing. Besides the pleasure he takes in eating and singing. the frogs serious occu- patton is to be caught and eaten. This du- ty he shirks as long as possible. He Will squat. seemingly absent-minded with spring. time fancies and blinking at the moon, but at the suspicion of . footfall looks not before he leaps. but drops into the water and goes down like a lost hope.
 Thousands of these croakers assemble in Miss stege's ponds every year. They have more than paid for their board and lodg- ing. When Miss stege fell heir to tho place there a mortguage on the farm; the frogs helped pay 1t off. Multitudes of the soft -flanked batrachians gave their lives and legs in the general massacre which re- suited, and from the profits of which the farm. with its cows and chickens and lone green parrot was saved to the owner. Last season was not run to a great prof 1t at the froggery. The ponds had been stocked: too many had been left to | breed. The frog eggs were thick as sago | pudding. The big frogs ate the Title frogs thereby becoming too stout for/ food pur- poses, and the small ones becoming too | scarce to be troubled.
 The size of the frogs at stege (the station is named after the principal iandowner) | is a topic which is seldom mentioned with l out preliminary avowals of truth and abil- | ity to prove the same. However, without taking space for such purposes. 1t may be | said that the larger specimens of bullfrogs | at Stege are almost large a big dove l and are wholesaled at ss a dozen. What they appear rated at on the bill of fare is a matter of conscience with the printer A frog has been known to swallow newly | matched chicken. paying the wages of giut- | tony, albeit, with his life
 Two years ago a shipment of the edible | size were sent from this ranch to the island of Hilo, of the Hawaiian group. Of the 4st | shipped In water barrels only two died. or | the way Frogs are not native to oceanic
 
 ton. It Is now said that the evening land scapes of Hilo are noisy with these so- called Dutch nightingales.
 Miss Edith Stege, proprietress of the Ill acres which includes the frog ranch. ha, | given 1t the favor of her daily cultivation The ranch is not a mere butter and egt place. It Is the owners occupation. he | recreation and her romance. It is beau tiful, deep treed and romantic.
 There are no storks at Stege the frog have no other king than the proprietoress who received them and their domain iron her foster father. When the frog puddle are filled with their edible population, Mis- stege gives them the care of a scientist At the time that the amphiblan loses hi gills and when his hearts two compart ments become a three-chambered organ as with reptiles. he Is subject to many dan gers of his constitution.
 Tt is then. said the manageress of tn froggery with a wink. that they are Ii able to pneumonia, I put mustard plas ters on their chest until this crisis of thei lives is past and they are we'll develope ; froggies and entitled to be eaten"
 As soon as the hibernating season receive the touch of warm weather one early fro bubbles his way to the surface of the pon
 and sings a shri1l ditty to his old colleg
 chum on the opposite bank Others arriv
 and the puddles not long in becomin
 populous. The frogs are dull skinned thel
 but soon become corpulent and bright.
 month the new generation is likely to
 at the age of majority. He Is then caugr
 as he croaks by his native waters Is ser to the restaurant where he croaks agair
 then is prepared for his destination an | croaks no more