The sun., 1908-04-26


does not need to be fed at all as hef forages for
him0elf and gets all that he can digest from
Insects and from the spawn and young fish
found tp the bottom Of bis pond, The tad
pole seems 10 prefer a vegetable diet and
gets his chief dish flNm the alge. II is
not generally known that frogs have teeth
n the upper jaw and that the tadpoles
horny beak b almost as sharp as the bill
d spdall birds.
sBhen properly cared for, which 80 far
az have been. able to learn consists In
keeping the frog In one pond, a frog pro-
duces from 5000 to 5000 eggs a season.
or tbis number about three-fourths can
beeountod on 10 reach maturity.
TThe eggs first appear on the surface OF
tbe-Water as a sticky scum, large clusters
Of them being gathered together within a
gelattnous envelope. II you take the
trouble 10 watch you will see this mass
presently separate into individual globules,
which turn black as they increase In size,
hWhen the little pollywog at last emerges
ho has gills that supply him with the air
necessary for his health and comfort with
90 troubling him TO come TO the surface,
While IN this stage his food is the iellylike
substance that has enveloped him.
Slater the little fellow loses his gils
and must come to the surface every once
Ia a while for air. His tail serves both as
Tudder and propeller, and II 1t should
be snapped on by one OF the numerous
enemies that seem 10 beset all pollywogs
II quickly grows out again.
SAs II gets older II loses its tail and its
legs begin 10 sprout, first the hind legs
and then those In front. When they are oil
sufficient size skim them up with long
handled dip and put them with their larger
relatives.
'oi course 1t is not possible for me to do
all the work, but always manage 70 catch
most OF the frogs for shipping When an
order comes In put on rubber boots, short
skirt and a jumper and 60 TO work.
when possible this work is done at night
with a lantern and large reflector in boat.
As the boat is pushed from place to place
the light is thrown on the water and the
inquisitive frogs.come up.
dThey are very quick and II requires no
little skill 10 be a good frog catcher. The
chief secret Is in putting the net over in
stead Of under the frog and letting him
jump into II, The inexperienced catcher
will invariably slip the net under the frog
and OF course he is always in the act OF
jumping, 30 out he goes.
"On every frog ranch | believe Il is the
custom TO play this practical joke on the
tenderfoot who comes 10 the ranch longing
10 catch few frogs, Last summer while
a party Of friends were visiting me one OF
my best customers from San Francisco
came QUITO see my ranch. He proposed a
frog dinner and readily agreed provided
he would catch the frogs.
SHe was delighted with the idea and set
out In the boat with a net while my friends
and remained under the trees on the bank
TO look on. II was nice and cool in the
shade but on the water knew from ex-
perience that the sun was uncomfortably
warm.
There was an abundance Of frogs in sight
and that man worked hard, but at the end
Of two hours he hadn't landed one. OBJ
serva.on didn't seem TO teach him thing,
At every try we watched that net go under
instead Of over the frog.
"One OF my friends declared that the
frogs enjoyed the exercise and often game
back TO do il over again. Thinking two
hours was long enough, took his place
and in ten minutes had two dozen fine big
fellows. Though we had the frog dinner
he didn't have the satisfaction Of saying
he had caught them.
when the frogs bury themselves in the
muddy bottoms OF ths ponds the only thing
10 do is TO drain Of the water and 60 after
them That ia the way We have to do
when we are changing them, putting the
young ones when they grow 10 sufficient
size with their older relatives.
when frogs are TO be shipped TO any
great distance they must be put in barrels
with plenty OF green moss and the water
changed daily. They must be fed OF course,
and the best food so far as have discovered
is oatmeal and liver or oatmeal and dried
blood.
sIn this way have shipped frogs entirely
across the continent witiNlittle almost no
loss. Unless my memory fails me think
the death rate was about two to the hum
dred. A frogs natural life is about twelve
years, and as | was not sure about the age
OF each individual Of that shipment il may
have been that those two had reached the
natural length Of their days.
Il look upon frog raising as an ideal
occupation for women who are fond OF
out Of door life | should advise them,
however, to begin on a small scale and
learn the business for themselves, trusting
as little as possible 10 employees.
so far as my own experience goes have
always had demands for a dozen times as
many frogs as | could supply The de-
mand Ia increasing in spite Of the fact that
new froggeries have been started up all
around me and all are making money.
Once the ponds are made and stocked the
expense OF raising the frogs doesn't amount
10 a dollar a year outside Of keeping the
fences in order and changing the little
ones as they increase in size.
$50 far as handling them, there Is abso-
lutely nothing 10 which the most fastidious
could object. They are beautifully plean
little creatures and perfectly harmless,