OF MASSACHUSETTS. 99 



The industry lasted until Jan. 1, 1908, when the boats were hauled 

 up for winter. The total estimate for the season is 20,000 bushels, or 

 12,000 gallons (unsoaked), valued at $15,720. The largest daily catch 

 recorded for one boat was 72 bushels. 



The principal market is New York, though part of the catch is sent 

 to New Bedford. The price varied from $1.15 to $3 per gallon. The 

 scallopers claim that they do not soak the scallops, as the " eye " is large 

 enough to sell well without increasing its size. Undoubtedly soaking 

 is done to some extent. The scallops are large, opening about 3% 

 quarts per bushel. 



Twelve hundred dollars are invested in gear and $15,000 in boats, 

 which vary from $300 to $1,300 in value. 



Licenses costing $1 are required by the selectmen of every scalloper. 



Here again we find the old tale of the decline of a once prosperous 

 industry, and new enthusiasm in the success of the 1907-08 season. 

 The 1906-07 season was an improvement over the previous one, when 

 eight licenses were issued, allowing a maximum of 1,605 bushels to be 

 taken. In previous years no licenses were given, as there were no 

 scallops. 



Brewster. 



Scalloping at Brewster can hardly be called an industry. Here the 

 primitive method of picking up the scallops on the exposed flats at 

 low tide is alone used. The scallops are washed by the heavy seas on 

 the flats, and can be gathered by men, women and children when the 

 tide goes down. Somewhere in the deeper water is a bed of scallops, 

 but in 1905 no one had been able to locate it. In 1905 only one man 

 made a business of gathering and shipping these scallops. He averaged 

 2 bushels per tide, going down with a team and carting them to his 

 house, where he opened them. All shipments were made to Boston, 

 at an average price of $1.75 to $2. The people pick up many for home 

 use. 



Chatham. 



The town of Chatham, situated at the elbow of Cape Cod, possesses 

 abundant facilities for all the shore fisheries. For the past twenty-five 

 years the scallop fishery has held almost equal rank with the lobster 

 and cod fisheries, for which Chatham is noted, and has in many years 

 furnished employment when other fishing had failed. 



Scallops are found only in the southern waters of the town. Between 

 Inward Point and Harding's Beach many acres of eel-grass flats, shel- 

 tered from the open ocean by Monomoy Island, furnish excellent 

 grounds for scallops. The entire area of these grounds is approximately 

 2,000 acres,' although this whole territory is never completely stocked 

 in any one year. During the season of 1907-08 the following places 

 constituted the scalloping grounds: — • 



(1) Island Flats in Stage Harbor, on the east side of the channel, 

 opposite Hardiog's Beach, furnished a number of scallops, which 



