ITS With Rod and Gun in New England 



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as this deposit is continued even after the intruding grain is covered, the 

 pearl in time attains a considerable size. 



The Chinese have long been acquainted with this habit in the pearl 

 oysters, and have taken advantage of it by introducing into them beads 

 and all kinds of small, grotesque objects, which are soon transformed into 

 beautiful and valuable pearls. 



Of course, if this artificial culture is accomplished elsewhere, it may 

 be done here, and there is no reason why many of our brooks and ponds 

 may not be utilized in this direction. 



The only requisites are an unfailing supply of pure water, a clean, 

 sandy or gravelly bottom, and careful handling. As it is essential that the 

 pearls should be of good shape, it is necessary that the objects introduced 

 should be symmetrical, and nothing is better for this purpose than small 

 glass or agate beads. The time required for the development of good 

 sized marketable pearls would be from three to rive years, according to the 

 size of the unio. There is no reason why these clams may not be made 

 profitable, in fact there is a chance for the establishment of a new industry. 

 But very little capital would be needed, and the clams could be kept as 

 pearl-growers for an indefinite length of time. 



On almost every farm there are swamp and meadow lands through 

 which brooks of greater or less size flow the entire year. These can all be 

 deepened, and their bottoms covered to the depth of five or six inches 

 with sand or gravel, and when this is done they will furnish acceptable 

 homes for the fresh-water mussels. A supply of these can be found often 

 in abundance upon the sandy bars of rivers and ponds, and as they readily 

 bear transplantation there would be but little difficulty in obtaining a stock 

 of them as large as may be desired. 



" But see " ! exclaimed the Doctor, pointing to a small animal that was 

 swimming near the shore, " there is one of the clam destroyers, a veritable 

 muskrat." 



"Yes," said I, "old Fiber zibethicus is a great clam hunter; I have 

 found hundreds of such beds as these all over the country." 



The muskrat is almost entirely aquatic in its habits, seldom ventur- 

 ing far from the water. Its burrow, in summer, is usually in the banks of 

 a stream or pond, and it has an opening beneath to the water, through 

 which it always retreats at the first sign of danger; in winter it builds a 

 large nest of grass, sedge, and the leaves and stalks of the water-lily. 

 This nest is not open on any side, the entrance being from beneath, from 

 the water. Its food consists principally of the roots and herbage of water 

 plants, but it is sometimes omnivorous. As before stated, the numbers of 

 clams, or more properly unios, it destroys is very great. The young, from 

 three to six or seven, are born usually in the spring, but I have found 



