We recommend the active work to begin in the early spring. Get your ponds ready as soon as possible. Get your stock and place it early, so it becomes familiar with its new quarters before the breeding season sets in. [Illustration: WATCHING AND WAITING] How Much to Invest. This, of course, depends largely on the circumstances. If you have abundant means and delight in some hobby and want to make a fancy proposition out of it, why you can make your ponds as expensive and picturesque as you wish. But for those who wish to make a business for the benefit of the income to be derived, should start with a small pond and about six pairs of Frogs. Then gradually increase your breeding pond as your stock and ability to handle it demands. Don't start with Frogs under four years of age. They will be the cheapest in the end. The Ponds and How to Construct Them. If you have a running stream of water on your place, the work of building the ponds is much easier than where you have to depend on filling them from pumped water. It is necessary to have several ponds, one large pond is not satisfactory. The reason for this is explained later. A plant for business should have at least four ponds. The depth of the ponds need not be very great, three feet is ample, and they could be less if you can have a good loam bottom that will hold water. But three feet is very satisfactory, and this graduating off to two feet, and one foot deep at the bank is plenty. A good shape and cheap way to build the ponds is like the cut shown. If the ground you have won't allow of this arrangement why make to best arrangement your ground will permit for convenience, carrying out the plan advisable for Raising Frogs. You must have a breeding pond, a hatching pond, a raising and a stock pond, four ponds in all. The stock pond should be the largest, permitting of plenty of room for growing and opportunity to get food. The size of your ponds depends largely on the amount of land available, its topography and the water supply. Ponds not less than one-half acre in area, with the inlet at one end and the outlet at the other, in a line of its longest axis, generally produce the best results, though smaller ponds can be successfully used.