The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-10-17
. NEW TNpusTnY-PrRHAps.

"Down in Texas The Washington Post tells us, 'they are raising frogs as big as chickens" That reminds us of the man who described some object of which he was speaking by saying 1t was "as big as piece of chalk" Some of the chickens handed out as "fryers" and 'broilers" at the. mar kets and restaurants wouldn't oversize the average frog to any great extent.
 But why shouldn't Burbank or some other man CT his kind develop a much larger breed of frogs than those usual- ly found? Animals and fowls. as well as plants have been 50 developed and improved that they really bear little resemblance to the diminutive object from which they sprang. and we See no reason why 8 like process with frogs should not produce like results. Sometimes we wonder at the results produced by selection. breeding and other methods. and incline to the opinion that what has been done along these lines may be only a beginning. and that there Is no reasonable limit to what man may do.
 To come down to business. why should not frog raising become profitobI industry In Texasf SomA portions of that state. we are told. are peculiarly fitted for the business. and for nothing else. Even if natural con- ditions are not fitted to produce the best results what is lacking can be supplied artificially. we have no doubt and the frog farm thus become one of the most profitable occupations of the Texans. Many people are very fond of the noisy batrachians, but as only the hind legs are relished 1t requires several frogs of ordinary size to satis- fy the hunger of genuine frog-eat- | CT.
 And here is where the intelligent Burbank froggist would strike it rich and racy. He should not only work to produce bigger frogs, but inasmuch as the hind legs are the part relished by the eplcurss, the effort should be made to develop the rear part of the | animal abnormaily. It would not be possible. we suppose. to develop one that would be nothing but hind legs, but much might be done in that way. When the breed can be so improved and enlarged that one pair of kickers would satisfy the appetite of the most ravenous bon vivant something real will have been accomplished. and the man who brings it about will be look ed on by millions yer unborn as pub lie benefactor.
 But The Post calls up a disturbing possibility in the following paragraph 1: alarming danger that threatens to | canker in the bud this new and proInis- ing Texas industry. Lone Star sciens | tists have noted that the evolution of | change in the modest and gentle moral nature of the retiring frog. Instances are noted where the psySn. osis T, has pse- re- | serker ferocity that splits at fear and | reyels in terror. And cowpunchers Tn l prohibition counties tell with bated breath of awful battles in the moon light on the prairie between plooa- 1 thirsty giant frogs and belligerent rab- bits in which not even hair was Ieht | to tell the tale of disaster.
 That is a serious phase of the affair, We must admit. In his natural state the bull-frog is one of the most harm- less and unaggressive insccts-if we may so call him-we know of. In his quiet and gradual uprise from tadpol-
 ism he encounters nothing that could
 possibly render him aggressive or dan-
 gerous, and If increase in size and
 leg development can only be brought
 about through the addition of feroeity
 the matter should be carefully looked
 Into. If a breed of frogs as large al
 jack rabbits and as fierce as wolve'
 should be brought about in the effor
 to supply the demand for bigger one and more of them. the danger t
 humanity might outweigh the gain
 That is a side of the affair that shoulc be carefully investigated and con
 sidered lest the scientists and expert mentors turn loose upon Texas {
 worse scourge than poor old Pharaol encountered.