150 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I913. 



water over night until the wagon of the dealer comes around 

 in the morning and collects the clams for the preceding day. 

 This practice of soaking the opened clams in fresh water results 

 in a swelling of the clam meat in a manner similar to the result 

 obtained by the floating of oysters. The difference between the 

 fresh clam meat and clams which have been soaked is illustrated 

 by two analyses. Fresh clams opened in the laboratory gave in 

 dry matter from the drained meat 24.9 per cent of total dry 

 solids. The sample analyzed from a lot of clams which had 

 been soaked gave 15.9 per cent total dry matter, a difference 

 of nine per cent. 



Dealers and shippers of clams in this State are practically 

 unanimous in the thought that opened clams will not keep 

 longer than twenty-four hours in their own liquor and it seems 

 to be the almost universal practice to open the clams as prompt- 

 ly as possible after digging and throw the clam liquids away and 

 then wash the clams in fresh water. Leaving the clams in 

 chis water results in fraud and dealers and producers were 

 warned in Official Inspections 43 that prosecutions will be com- 

 menced where evidence is obtained that clams have been soaked 

 or adulterated in any way. 



In the early winter of 1912-13 samples of opened claims 

 were taken from markets in Rockland. Many of them were 

 found to carry too much free liquids and the dry matter of the 

 clams was altogether too small. Hearings were appointed and 

 this resulted in the executive of the law going to Rockland, 

 meeting all of the dealers there and going over the matter with 

 them thoroughly. Tliey claimed that many of the clams came 

 to them from brackish waters and that this would account for 

 the low solid content. It was arranged so that there were sent 

 from three different localities to the Experment Station clams 

 representing the various types that come into Rockland. The 

 results are given in the table. The North Haven "Rock" clams 

 were from the open side of North Haven waters and they 

 were exposed to the full influence of the sea. The North Haven 

 "Mud" clams were from the sound and the harbors and were 

 dug in the usual clam "flats " The Keag River clams were 

 from a river back of Rockland and represent the type of clams 

 which come from the brackish waters. According to the 

 opinions of the dealers, these should have the largest amount 



