QUAHAUGS FROM NEW BRUNSWICK 



75 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 38a 



MAN'XEU OF SHIPPING AND EXTKXT OF INDUSTUY. 



Formerly tlie clams were shipped in ordinary grain and feed bags, but, u con- 

 siderable loss resulting, it was thought well to use a more open sack pcrrnittiiig of 

 freer circulation, and the coarse open " coflfee " bag of about IJ bushels' capacity is 

 now in vogue. The quahaugs are sorted and classified as large and small, the sound- 

 ness is, in one establishment, decided by rapping them together, a manner of testing 

 regarded as injurious by the other, which claims that they are killed by even a slight 

 blow. The action does seem a rather violent one, and it is still a matter of doubt if 

 the jar to a creature of such delicate internal .structure and loose arrangemcMit of 

 organs and parts does not produce strains and even ruptures more or le-s fatal, 

 though the firm objecting to it had also consignments to New York and Chicago go 

 bad. The experiments performed at the station and referred to below are certainly 

 not conclusive on the point. 



The sacks of clams are placed in tiers, one on top of the other, the box-car is iced 

 at either end, and re-iced whenever necessary during transit, but no provision is made 

 for the ventilation of the sealed car. The temperature at which it is kept could not be 

 ascertained, nor whether it was uniform; but it is fair to assume that clams taken 

 from water at a temperature of from 68° to 70° F., stored for a week or more in one 

 at from 45° to 50° F., or perhaps less, and then exposed to a temperature of 80° or 

 upwards at their point of destination, must suifer from such extremes; and, if shi])ped 

 in a weak and physically reduced condition, many may be expected to die. It will be 

 seen that the experiments made at the station are decisive on this point. 



The want of ventilation referred to and the pressure at which half or more of the 

 clams are subjected, keeping the valves firmly shut and rendering oxygen utilization 

 nigh impossible, were thought to be important factors; but, in the light of the tests 

 described below, the latter does not seem to be of any importance, at least within the 

 time limits of the experiments, but the former, a condition that should not be ignored. 



Two firms, E. O'Leary and Irving & Son, send annually from Buctouche to the 

 American market, chiefly to Chicago and JSTew York, between 600 and 700 tons, or about 

 two carloads per week, from early in May till the middle of November. 



Though there is always a loss, it never assumed the alarming proportions it did 

 this summer, as the following record of shipments to Chicago made by Mr. O'Leary 

 show : — 



The loss in subsequent shipments was unimportant. 



It is seen: (a) that the large clams generally suffered the more; (6) that the small 

 ones were practically immune after June 16, but the large clams continued to die for 

 a month longer; (c) that other factors than exposure to high temperature at the point 

 of destination were at work, since the cargo arriving June 16 lost more at a tempera- 

 ture of 70° F., with a mean of 59° for the 15th, 16th, and 17th, than that of July 13 

 at a temperature of 93° F., with a mean of 80° F. for the 12th, 13th, and 14th, though 

 the death-rate of the large was about the same in both. 



