The Growth of the Soft Clam 305 



In a U. S. Fish Commission report published in 1887, 

 reference is made to an attempt at clam farming at 

 Bridgeport, Conn. It is stated that a beach right was 

 secured under a general state law, but that there was 

 " immense opposition from the shore people of the sub- 

 urbs, who, as usual, bitterly and blindly opposed any 

 cultivation of marine products." 



Small clams were planted by being placed in holes 

 made in sand, but this was found to be slow, and an at- 

 tempt was made, by the use of all sorts of plows and cul- 

 tivators, to plow the seed in. Finally a light plow was 

 invented that was said to do the work satisfactorily. 

 The bed, which was about half an acre in extent, was in- 

 spected three years after the first planting, and showed 

 an immense number of clams. As they were apparently 

 too thickly set, the owner was engaged in thinning and 

 transplanting them, and believed that he " must wait 

 four or five years for his first crop." Even at that, the 

 writer of the report declared, " I know of no branch of 

 mollusk culture likely to prove more remunerative than 

 this, so long as it is not overdone." Nevertheless, for 

 some reason the attempt at Bridgeport was discontinued. 



Laws of New England shore states allow towns to 

 rent their flats to citizens for the purpose of planting 

 clams. At one time or another several towns have done 

 this, but all attempts at clam culture have proved to be 

 dismal failures, not because of adverse natural condi- 

 tions, but from rivalries and ill feeling among those who 

 were most interested, and from the difficulty in punish- 

 ing trespassers. 



Perhaps the nearest approach to success was made by 

 the town of Essex in Massachusetts. In 1888 its select- 

 men were authorized to rent lots of one acre or less, to 



