The sun., 1908-04-26
FROGS A PAYING PROPOSITION
WITHOUT MUCH LABOR, SAYS
MISS WALSH. .S.'


An Ideal Occupation for Women Fond o.
an Outdoor life IL Her COnclusiOn,
Based on Her Experience on = FrOE
Ranch in California CROWNS Dpmand.
One Of the most successful frog ranches
in California is owned and managed by
Miss Katherine Walsh. Like a good many
other people now living in the West, Mas
Walsh was forced 10 leave her native State
in the East BECAUSE Of III health. Being
told 10 live out Of doors and forced by
necessity TO earn her own living she decided
TO raise frogs for the market, and now not
only owns one Of the most picturesque
ranches in Contra Costa county but sup
ports in comfort her mother and tbs two
children Of q dead sister. - a1
THE net profit Of my froggeries for Last
year was something over ti,SOO' Miss
Walsh told the reporter. Il sold three
thousand dozen frog legs in SAM Francisco
and that was the amount cleared, They
were all shipped alive to hotels and restau-
rants and the price received was from 81
TO s. a dozen. OF course the price Of frog
legs, like that Of every other variety Of game,
depends on the size and the season.
'The native green frog OF California is
very small, and while the legs are delicious
In taste they bring much less money than
when the native frog is crossed with the
large Eastern frog. According to epicures
the very best frog for the table is the cross
between the California and the Florida
species With carefully selected stock this
cross produces exceptionally handsome
frogs and 80 deliciously favored as 70 put to
blush the finest Partisan product
my froggeries cover ten acres Of land
and are four in number besides the small
pools where the tadpoles are kept until
they are large enough 10 be put with their
older relatives. Yes, II Is absolutely neces-
sary to keep them divided according to
size, as frogs are about the most cheerful
cannibals-one could imagine. e.
Anything Of his own kind from a tad
pole up is fair game for a large frog that
can catch and swallow II. They are not at
all particular about being able 10 swallow
1t at one gulp either. Indeed they are per-
fectly content, II they can get a portion OF
their victim within reach Of the digestive
fluids, to sit placidly with a part hanging
out OF their mouth until room has been
made for ii inside.
-In spite Of every precaution the large
frogs will sometimes get out. When they
do il seems that instinct leads them di-
rectly to the tadpole pools. In the morn
ing the runaway frog is found wearing a
placid smile Of contentment, unmistakable
evidence that a sufficiency Of tadpoles have
been stored away by him.
Il now have all my ponds and pools sur
rounded by close board fences three feet
in height. No, the frogs cannot Jump so
high, but il by chance a broom, a garden
utensil or even a broken branch is left
leaning against the fence the frogs seem
to discover il in some miraculous manner.
and at once, using 1t as a gangplank, set out
to see the world
They are great travellers by nature,
and soon after moving my stock to this
place had an amusing experience. As II
was not possible to have banks about my
first froggeriee, had fences built, but
when bought this ranch, as all the ponds
had high banks thought there would be
no necessity for the fences.
A few days after We moved IN | was
awakened early one morning by the gar
dener aud invited to come out and look at
the frogs. II seemed as IL the whole place
was covered with them. They had climbed
the banks and we're Of on their travels,
We were kept busy the entire morning
sweeping them up with brooms and dust
pans and dumping them back into the
ponds where they belonged.
The pools for my tadpoles are never
more than a, foot deep and have cement
covered bottoms The frog ponds are
deeper and the bottoms are covered with
mud, in which the frogs bury themselves
during the winter.
-All my pools and ponds are so perfectly
drained that an overflow is quite impossible,
and in case It becomes necessary all the
water can be let Oh within few minutes.
They are all, ponds and pools covered
with a green lacework Of algB 30 thick
as to resemble one unbroken mass, but the
water under this growth is fresh.