The frogs, when caught, are placed in cages made of laths or slats; the cages are about five feet long by four feet wide, and one foot in height. These cages are placed half in the water and half on land; the bottoms of the cages having a slight inclination, to allow the frogs to leave the water when so disposed. After being caged for a few days, they will begin to take food. Their favorite food is young frogs, small live fish, insects, mice, and angle-worms. All of these must have life and motion, or the frogs will not eat them. Many attempts have been made to breed frogs artificially, but so far all have failed. The principal trouble seems to be the difficulty of obtaining natural food in sufficient quantities to prevent the old frogs from devouring their young, which they will do on all occasions. Again, the young frog, from the tadpole stage up to the perfect frog, is surrounded by enemies night and day—aquatic birds, turtles, lizards, snakes, leeches, insects, fish, water-rats, and, worst of all, his own relations. A female frog at five years of age will produce over a thousand eggs every year. Out of the thousand eggs not more than twenty-five ever attain over two years' growth, so constant is the warfare of their enemies.
There are two ways of preparing the frogs' legs for market. One is known as the Canadian style (see figure), which consists of leaving part of the back of the frog attached to the legs; this is done to make weight. The other is the Philadelphia style, wherein the legs are cut off close to the end of the back, or spine, after the legs have been skinned. In the figure the dotted line A A shows the Philadelphia style, which always brings the highest price. The legs are packed in half-barrels between layers of crushed ice, and will average from fifty to seventy-five pounds to the half-barrel. The prices paid for frogs' legs vary from twenty to sixty cents per pound, which is governed by the season of the year, the demand, and the supply. At the leading hotels—Delmonico's, for instance—seventy-five cents is the regular price per plate for cooked frogs' legs all the year round.
The method of cooking the legs is as follows. After the legs have been thoroughly washed, they are dried in a towel; they are then dipped in beaten eggs, and rolled in powdered cracker, after which they are fried in very hot lard or butter until slightly brown, and are served up with fine herbs and mushrooms stewed in butter.
Now it seems to me, as I said before, that the boys have a chance to make considerable pocket-money on frogs' legs. If I was still a boy, I would enter into an agreement with two or three of the largest and best-paying hotels to supply them with legs, fresh caught (remember, that's a big advantage you would have over the New York market), at just a few cents per pound below the prevailing market prices during the season. There is no reason, when you are out frogging, why you should not capture a few trout also.
THE BOOT-BLACK'S SHOWER-BATH.