OF MASSACHUSETTS. 123 



first points considered in this investigation. Parallel work on the qua- 

 haug and clam showed that by individual culture or farming the general 

 supply could be increased, barren area made to yield a harvest, the 

 decline of the natural supply checked, and a profitable industry employ- 

 ing several times the number of men now engaged could be started. 

 Conditions were found to be different with the scallop. There are serious 

 limitations to individual cultivation. Scallops can swim and move for 

 short distances, although they do not make the long migrations com- 

 monly credited to that species, and thus require penning. It was found 

 that in a few places in the State the scallop could be cultivated by 

 private persons. In every instance the locality of the prospective 

 grant was in a small bay with a narrow outlet, situations so rarely 

 existing that the idea of private scallop culture must be abandoned. 

 Undoubtedly in the future, when grants are given for oysters, clams 

 and quahaugs, they will be assigned under the broad term of " shellfish 

 grants," and the scallops upon these bottoms will be considered as be- 

 longing to the grantee. In such cases the scallop is of secondary con- 

 sideration, and in reality there will never be many true scallop grants. 



(c) Communal Culture. The scallop offers better opportunities for 

 communal culture, i.e., by towns. There is but one way now known of 

 artificial propagation for the scallop industry, i.e., by transplanting 

 in the fall the abundant set from the exposed places to the deeper 

 water before the " seed " is killed by the winter. It is merely assisting 

 nature by preventing a natural loss, and in no sense can properly be 

 termed propagation. It is a preventive, and money used in this way 

 to preserve the scallop is well expended. Usually the set is abundant, 

 and can be transferred in large numbers. This is the only practical 

 method now known of increasing our scallop supply, though it is 

 hoped in the future that other methods may be devised. 



In connection with the above comes the question, if we can thus 

 preserve scallops doomed to destruction, will it not be profitable to 

 transplant scallops to places where the scalloping has been exterminated 

 by various causes, and by means of these " seeders " furnish succeeding 

 generations which may populate the barren areas? This plan is prac- 

 tical and feasible, and should be given due consideration. Why should 

 not scallops be transplanted to the harbors of Buzzard's Bay to again 

 restock these areas? Often the attempt might fail, but there is bound 

 to be success if there is perseverance. The best time to plant scallops 

 is in the fall, as a double service will be given: (1) preservation from 

 destruction of the seed scallops; (2) furnishing spawn and young in 

 the barren locality. Ingersoll (8) speaks of the restocking of Oyster 

 Bay in 1880 : - 



In the spring of 1880 eel grass came into the bay, bringing young scallops 

 [the eel grass carries the scallops attached to it by the thread-like byssusl; 

 thus the abundance of that year was accounted for, though there had not 

 been a crop before in that bay since 1874. 



