204 THE MOLLUSK FISHERIES 



The only places where clams are dug in any quantity is along the 

 shore. Here little scattered patches, remnants perhaps of the former 

 large supply, repay the clammer's toil with a scant return. Little or 

 no effort is made to dig them on the main flats, and few are so dug 

 unless they happen to be unearthed by accident when the men are 

 searching for razor clams for bait. The supply is hardly adequate 

 for home consumption and the demands for bait by local fishermen. 



Whether all the great tidal territory of Duxbury can ever be recon- 

 structed into profitable clam ground is a difficult question. There exist, 

 however, no known reasons why a fishery at least as flourishing as that 

 of twenty years ago could not be re-established and indefinitely devel- 

 oped. A great industry was once in evidence here. Outside the boggy 

 eel-grass marshes (doubtful territory at best) are wide expanses of 

 clean sand flats, suitable in every way for the cultivation of clams. 

 That the ingenuity of man properly administered can build up an 

 enormous industry on these sand flats alone, no thoughtful person can 

 doubt, and then utilization of these great barren Duxbury wastes will 

 partially, at least, be accomplished. 



COMPARISON OF 1907 WITH 1879. 



YEAR. 



Production (Bushels) . 



Value. 



1879, 

 1907, 



5,000 

 700 



$2,500 



SUMMARY OP INDUSTRY. 



Number of men, . . . . . . . .... 5 



Capital invested, . ..- . . . . . . . .. $60 



Production, 1907: 



Bushels, '...-. . . . . .700 



Value, . . $600 



Total area (acres) : 



Sand, . . . . . . . . ".-. . . ., * ' . 800 



Mud, 



Gravel, ........... 



Mussels and eel grass, 2,700 



Total, 3,500 



Productive area (acres) : 



Good clamming, .......... 5 



Scattering clams, 10 



Barren area possibly productive (acres), . . . . . . 800 



Waste barren area (acres), 2,685 



Possible normal production, $83,000 



