66 



RANDOM NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY. 



Not onl3- is the bake the same old bake 

 with all its old fashioned flavor — a real an- 

 tique in a world of would-be ancient and- 

 irons, blue china, and ancestr}-, but also is 

 the clam the same old clam. Science dis- 

 tinguishes the Rhode Island long-necked 

 clam from its low quality relation, the Cone}' 

 Island quahaug, bj' terming it a mfja are- 

 'iiaria. Few Rhode Islanders care about the 

 distinction ; they can tell a real clam with 

 their eyes shut. A New Yorker may turn 

 up his nose at the delicac}' and chew on his 

 quahaug, which must afford him about as 

 much satisfaction as a piece of A. W. Faber's 

 rubber. Rhode Island has clung to this 

 dear old clam, despite all opposition and 

 sneers — as she has to other as sacred and 

 worthy institutions. 



As at present served, a clam dinner pre- 

 pared to fill, as it often is, from five to fifteen 

 or twentv thousand people in the course of a 

 few hours, is a stupendous affair, and from 

 the bottom up is a work to be admired as a 

 whole, and wondered at in its details ; and 

 few of the thousands who in the course of 

 the summer season sit down to clam dinners, 

 appreciate the work entailed in its prepara- 

 tion. 



THE PIECE DE RESISTANCE. 



First and foremost there is the clam. 

 Most of the clams used at the shore resorts 

 of Xarragansett Bay come from the flats 

 across the bay from Nayatt, on the Conimi- 

 <;ut shore and on Green's Island. As far 

 up as Pawtuxet and about Sabin's Point, 

 the clams are considered hard, glue-shelled 

 and gritty ; but across at Bullock's Point 

 they are good, and the Bullock's Pointers 

 get their clams right at home. Two-tliirds 

 of the clams are got by "churning." The 

 clam gang wades out over the bed and 

 shovels up mud and clams and everything 

 that comes along into big wire baskets, 

 which, when about full, are lifted out of the 

 water, and a rinsing and shaking washes 

 out the mud and leaves the clams. Two 

 men and a bo}' attend to each basket, one 

 man shoveling in the mud, the second get- 

 ting out the clams and the boy ''culling" 

 them. Churning can onl}' be done at about 

 half-tide, when the water is two or three 

 feet deep. The suction on the shovel is 

 tremendous, and they are made exception- 

 ally strong. When there are good tides, 

 on the fid! and change of the moon, the 



clams may be raked out after the manner 

 of the non-professional digger ; a shovelful 

 of mud is turned up at a time and the clams 

 it contains are raked out with the clam hoe. 

 Consideration of either of the above meth- 

 ods is sufficient for a true understanding of 

 the happiness of the clam at high water. 

 The clam ordinarily' lies in the mud from 

 two to eighteen inches ; a clam that would 

 bur}' itself much deeper than eighteen inches 

 is not to be looked upon with favor. It is 

 a wearing-life that the clam diggers lead, 

 working as they do in the water and so 

 hard as to be constantly wet with perspi- 

 ration. 



At Rocky Point alone last year some 

 4,000 bushels of clams for the bake alone 

 were used. The regular clam gang is seven- 

 teen or eighteen men, but on big da^'S it is 

 necessary to increase the force to fifty or 

 sixt}' men. This year the clams on Green's 

 Island are onl}- one ^^ear old, and are ready 

 for the bake — a remarkable case of clam 

 growth. It appears that when the clams 

 are in great abundance they grow very 

 slowly, and those used lastj-ear from Green's 

 Island were about three j'ears old ; but, be- 

 ing few of them " set" one ^ear ago, they 

 grew large enough for use very rapidly. 



As the men are paid for their digging by 

 the bushel it is evident that on skill and 

 hard work depends the amount of money 

 the digger gets, while "churning" is evi- 

 dently more profitable than " raking." 

 They get about eight}' cents a bushel and 

 ever}' shore resort has its "thoroughbred" 

 digger, who can get out more clams in a 

 given time than any other man. 



Well, once the clams are out of the water 

 and in the boats they are towed to shore 

 where they are piled in a shed, picked over, 

 and carefully washed. Five or six men are 

 employed constantly at this work at the 

 larger resorts. The preparation of the pile 

 on which the clams are to bake is the next 

 step, and this is done on much the same 

 plan everywhere : a pile of wood is laid, on 

 every layer of which cobble stones are 

 placed and the burning of the wood heats 

 the stones and makes them ready to have 

 the clams thrown on top. At Rocky Point, 

 instead of building the pile on the ground, 

 it is laid on a surface of stone, cemented 

 with fire clay, and some such plan has been 

 adopted in other places. This allows of the 



