OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



207 



Comparison of 1907 with 1879. 



Barnstable. 



The clam industry at Barnstable, while not so extensive as at Ipswich 

 or Essex, is nevertheless of special interest. The immensely long coast 

 line, stretching for many miles on both the north and south shores of 

 Cape Cod, gives the town a shellfish area both in Cape Cod Bay and 

 Vineyard Sound which renders it unrivalled throughout the State for 

 variety of marine life and diversity of natural environment. These 

 conditions, as they affect clam culture, are best suited on the northern 

 or bay side of the town, where the clam industry flourishes more exten- 

 sively, as the southern shore is almost wholly given up to the rival 

 quahaug, oyster and scallop fisheries. 



On the northern shore a large harbor, nearly 5 miles long and about 

 2 miles broad at its widest part, extends in a general westerly direction, 

 ending in a vast waste of salt marshes interwoven with a network of 

 creeks. Up this harbor the tides rush with great velocity, and when 

 they sweep out to sea leave a broad expanse of flats, sandy on the 

 north and central portions and muddy on the south. These flats cover 

 an aggregate area of 400 acres, comprising 200 acres of hard sand and 

 150 acres of soft mud. Large stretches of these mud flats on the south 



