The Growth of the Soft Clam 319 



They will be ready for market in half the time required 

 for oyster growth. For several years the demand has 

 been steadily growing. There is room for an indefinite 

 extension of the market, and when production becomes 

 certain, a fair and steady price may be depended on. 

 The man with small capital may profitably engage in the 

 new enterprise. The culture of the soft clam in some of 

 the northern states should be as successful as that of any 

 other marine food organism, and the culture of the hard 

 clam, or little neck, on southern shores as well as in parts 

 of New England, should also become of great import- 

 ance. 



The time may come when the matter of the artificial 

 culture of Mya will be of interest to the states of Cali- 

 fornia and Washington, for the creature has established 

 itself on the Pacific coast and is slowly finding favor in 

 the markets. Mya was introduced into California 

 waters by accident or design about 1870, and being a 

 cold water form, found conditions suited to its needs, 

 and at once multiplied rapidly and spread over a large 

 territory in San Francisco Bay and elsewhere, occupying 

 beaches between tide lines, as at home in the Atlantic. 



The " eastern clam," as it is known on our western 

 coast, appeared in Willapa Bay, Washington, about 1880, 

 and is supposed to have come directly from California. 

 From this point a few years later a small number was 

 transported to Puget Sound, near Tacoma. Since that 

 time they have spread, appearing at many points on the 

 shores of the sound, and in some places are very abun- 

 dant. To have attained so wide a distribution in so short 

 a time, proves that the conditions in the new waters are 

 very favorable for the propagation of the soft clam. 



The Pacific states possess half a dozen fine edible 



