The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-01-16
FROGS PAY OFF MORTGAGE.
California Girl Finds Cracking Crop
Ore Of Profit and Pleasure.


frogs of Contra Costa county are for
several months in winter quarters
that is to say, are deep in Contra
Costa's mud. Four miles north of
Berkeley is Californias greatest sum-
mer resort for the bullfrog and the
infantile tadpole. This is on the farm
of Miss Edith Siege Here the croak-
ing amphibian is entertained in a
manner worthy of a beast that brings
from $3.50 to IS 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 center of a bit of land
scape that at this time of year is tinct-
ured with all the green's and browns
and secret shadows that autumn
brings to earth. Lilies, oleanders
and weeping willows, tapestriad with
vine and moss, and ponderous with
gloom, surround the temples of this
frogland and filter the sunlight that
falls upon it,
Here in the twilight of springtime
the frog bulges his cheeks and grunts
his thrOaty melody across the pond.
Another takes up the chant, ana then
another. until the precinct sounds as
if the earth's axis We're out of gear
and creaked for lack of oiling. Besides
the pleasure he takes in eating and
singing, the frogs serious occupation
is to be caught and eaten. This duty
he shirks as long as possible. He will
squat, seemingly absent-minded with
springtime fancies and blinking at the
fall looks not before ne leaps. but
drops into the water and goes down
like a lost hope.
Frogs Avert Financial Calamity.
Thousands of these croakers assem-
BILE in Miss Stege's ponds every year.
They have more than paid for their
board and lodging. When Miss Siege
fell heir to the place there was
mortgage on the farm: the frogs
helped pay it off. Multitudes of the
soft thanked batrachians gave up their
lives and legs in the general massacre
which resulted, and from the profits
of which the farm with it's COWS AMI
chickens and lone green parrot. was
saved to the owners. Last season was
not run to a great profit at the frog
gerry. The ponds had been over
stocked; too many had been left to
breed. The frogs eggs were thick as
sage pudding. The big frogs ate the
little frogs, thereby becoming too
stout for food purposes, and the small
ones becoming too scarce to be
troubled.
The size of the frogs at Siege (the
station is named after the principal
landowner) is a topic which is seldom
mentioned without preliminary avow-
ais of truth and ability to prove the
same. However, without taking space
for such purposes, it may be said that
the larger specimens of bullfrogs at
Siege are almost as big as a large dove
and are wholesaled at So a dozen.
What they appear rated 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 gluttony, albeit,
with his life.
Gives Her Crop Personal Attention.
Miss Edith Siege, proprietress of
the lis acres which includes the frog
ranch, has given it the favor of her
daily cultivation. The ranch is not
a mere butter and egg place. 1t is the
owners occupation, her recreation and
her romance. 1t is beautiful, deep
freed and romantic.
There are no storks at Siege; the
frogs have no other king than the pro-
prietress, who received them and their
domain from her foster-father. When
the frog puddles are filled with edible
population Miss Siege gives them the