OF MASSACHUSETTS. 19 



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Salem. 



Salem has far better natural advantages for elam culture than the 

 other towns in its immediate vicinity, and leads in clam production, 

 though the industry is of very inferior proportions. Seven men are at 

 present employed in digging the harbor flats, where the clams have 

 very recently seeded in. Many of these clams, though rather small, 

 are shucked, and the remainder are sold in the local markets. The 

 entire value of the annual production does not exceed $200, and . the 

 capital invested amounts to but $75. This is rather poor showing for 

 100 acres of flats for the most part comparatively good, and capable 

 of yielding $11,000 annually. The Salem clammers dig also in the 

 Danvers River in the town of Danvers. 



Summary of Industry. 



Number of men, .......... 7 



Capital invested, $75 



Production, 1907 : — 



Bushels, 200 



Value, $200 



Total area (acres) : — 



Sand, 75 



Mud, 25 



Gravel, - 



Mussels and eel grass, - 



. Total, 100 



Productive area (acres) : — 



Good clamming, 5 



Scattering clams, ......... 10 



Barren area possibly productive (acres), 70 



Waste barren area (acres), 15 



Possible normal production, $11,000 



Lynn. 

 The city of Lynn has within its tidal flats the latent resources of an 

 important industry. Its clam grounds could, if properly utilized, yield 

 a great increase over their present inconsiderable return. No legislation 

 on the part of the city authorities has intervened to improve the shellfish 

 production or to prevent the depletion of valuable territory which has 

 been allowed to gradually lapse into an" unsanitary desert. While at 

 low tide about 400 acres of flats spread over the broad harbor or border 

 the banks of the Saugus River, but 40 acres of this wide expanse yield 

 any appreciable revenue. The principal part of the digging is done 

 on the mud flats of the Saugus River. Here 7 fishermen work inter- 

 mittently to supply the local market during the summer months. There 

 is some good territory at the mouth of the river toward the north, and 

 scattering clams occur along the eastern shores, but the main flats of 

 the harbor are for the most part barren. 



