OF MASSACHUSETTS. 185 



practically worthless, while the remaining 300, though almost all well 

 adapted for clam culture, are barren. 



The main type of soil is sand, and the sand flats, for the most part 

 in Plum Island Sound, comprise some 250 acres. The remainder, 150 

 acres, is mostly mud in scattered sections along the Rowley River and 

 in patches on the main flats. The only really productive flats are the 

 little coves and creeks of Rowley River and the Knob Reefs in Plum 

 Island Sound. The Knob Reef clam grounds produce very large and 

 fine clams, which lie on the lower edge of the flat and are exposed only 

 a short time every tide. Knob Reefs also has the distinction of pos- 

 sessing probably the finest clam set of its size in the State, which would 

 furnish abundant opportunity for restocking all the barren Rowley 

 River flats, if the town authorities had taken proper measures to trans- 

 plant this seed. As it is, this extensive set, too thick for good growth, 

 is rapidly wasting away. 



The history of the industry is one of steady decline. Reliable evidence 

 exists to show that almost all the flats of Rowley once produced clams, 

 and that large areas now waste were formerly productive. That these 

 immense barren areas, possessing such an enormous latent wealth, should 

 be allowed to remain thus unimproved, is a most conclusive argument 

 for the need of radical action. No settled attempt, however, except for 

 a single closed season in 1906, has ever been made by the clammers 

 or town authorities to better the conditions, or to check the decline in 

 the productive territory that remains. 



SUMMARY OP INDUSTRY. 



Number of men, 15 



Capital invested, $800 



Production, 1907: 



Bushels, 2,000 



Value, $1,500 



Total area (acres) : 



Sand, 250 



Mud, 150 



Gravel, 



Mussels and eel grass, 



Total, 400 



Productive area (acres) : 



Good clamming, .......... 20 



Scattering clams, ......... 80 



Barren area possibly productive (acres), 300 



Waste barren area (acres), ........ 



Possible normal production, . . . ... . . $60,000 



Ipswich. 



Ipswich is second only to Newburyport in the production of clams, 

 and has perhaps even greater possibilities of development. The clam 

 territory of the two towns, while nearly equal in extent, is, however, 



