628 vru VHT.'K ^TATE MUSEL'M 



oyster industry, and it is a thing- greatly to be desired. Unjjke the 

 depredations from wliich Chesapeake bay has ahvays suffered, there 

 is nothinj^ piratical about the operations of the Long Island ovster- 

 nian. He is a planter — not a mere dredger — and receives a title or 

 a lease from the various towns for the territory which he occupies, 

 and he is legally entitled to their protection. 



It is to be hoped that this appropriation of the bottom is not to 

 interfere seriously with the supply of clams and scallops. It seems 

 that just now there is great need for the development of some 

 method of hard clam culture. Oyster culture is well developed, 

 and we know the conditions and the size of the area necessary for 

 the production of a certain number. On the other hand, we know 

 nothing of the possibilities of rearing the hard clam, and it mav be 

 that bottoms now not utilized may be made to produce — and per- 

 haps in greater abundance than the natural beds. 



It would probably be declared by oystermen that the spreading 

 of oysters on a bottom does not destroy the clams which already 

 exist there, and that, when the oysters are removed, the clams mav 

 then be taken also. It certainly would be an interesting thing to 

 determine whether the presence of oysters on a clam bed would in- 

 terfere greatly with the growth of the clams, or vice versa. This is 

 simply a question of the necessary amount of food, for both certainly 

 live on the same microscopic plants, which are borne by water cur- 

 rents. We should expect, then, to find the results of such an in- 

 quiry varying somewhat in different localities. If there should be 

 areas, however, where food is so abundant as to allow the maxi- 

 mum rate of growth of both forms, it should be known, and the ad- 

 vantage of a double crop on one area realized so far as possible. 



Surely this question of the relation between the oyster and clam 

 industries is worthy of most careful consideration l)y ilie state of 

 New York. Before it can be discussed intelligently, there must be 

 a very careful investigation of the facts concerning the possibilities 

 of growth of both forms. The life history of the oyster is fairly well 

 known; but of the hard clam, almost nothing. We must become 

 acf|uainted with the possibilities of the bottoms, considering not 

 only the relations between oyster and hard clam, but also between 



