REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 41 



ford, clams have been planted and left undisturbed and have grown 

 remarkably well. See page 67. 



It is a belief almost universally held that the soil loosened by 

 much digging is rendered favorable for the setting of clams, but even 

 this proposition our experiments contradict. The remarkably thick 

 natural sets of small clams found in different years were, in every 

 instance, upon shores which contained so few old clams that they 

 were not dug over. For example, the point of Cornelius Island, at 

 Wickford, yielded 12,500 clams to the square yard; the point at 

 Old Buttonwoods, in 1900, yielded nearly as many; the east shore 

 of Green's Island in 1891, yielded about 8,000 clams to the square 

 foot; the same point on Cornelius Island, again in 1900 yielded 

 7,715 clams per square yard. These areas of shore were, at the time 

 when the clams set, lying undisturbed. On the other hand, we 

 have not found sets nearly so dense in any area which had been dug 

 over, although of course good sets have been deposited in such places. 

 Again, in the commission's bed, at the Kickemuit river, which rested 

 undisturbed for two years, not only was there an excellent product 

 from the clams which were sown, but there was also a heavy set of 

 new clams. 



We are convinced that the clam in Narragansett Bay can, at the 

 present time, as in the past, hold its own against natural enemies 

 and adverse physical conditions, and can regain and maintain its 

 former abundance, and, moreover, that excessive digging is the 

 immediate cause of the decrease of the product. 



METHODS OF INCREASING THE YIELD OF CLAMS. 



In developing methods of clam culture we have constantly kept 

 in mind two possibilities: that of reinstating the clams on the 

 shores for public digging, and that of cultivating them on grounds 

 leased to private parties. Success in either case must obviously 

 depend on the degree to which unfavorable conditions of life are 

 reduced and favorable ones increased. 



Increase in the Production of Spaivn. — That the general increase 



