OF MASSACHUSETTS. 225 



Total area (acres) : — 



Sand, 15 



Mud, 10 



Gravel, 5 



Mussels and eel grass, - 



Total, 30 



Productive area (acres) : — 



Good clamming, 5 



Scattering clams, 15 



Barren area possibly productive (acres), - 



Waste barren area (acres), 10 



Possible normal production, $5,000 



The Fall Biver District (Narragansett Bay). 



The section of country bordering on Narragansett Bay and the 

 Rhode Island line comprises a territory remote from the other clam- 

 producing districts of the State, and possessing many characteristics 

 not found in any other locality. Six towns of this region enjoy the 

 privileges of a clam industry, situated as they are on the shores of Mt. 

 Hope Bay and its tributary streams, the Cole, Lee and Taunton rivers. 

 Beginning with the most westerly and taking them in order, these 

 towns comprise Swansea, Somerset, Dighton, Berkley, Freetown and 

 Fall River. These towns differ only in extent of resources or develop- 

 ment of the industry, while the general nature of the clam flats and the 

 methods employed in carrying on the business are essentially alike for 

 all. The area in this region suitable for clam culture possesses some of 

 the distinguishing features of the typical north shore flats, some of the 

 Buzzards Bay variety and some peculiar to itself. There are scarcely 

 any sand flats, and the prevailing type of soil is mud, as at Newbury- 

 port, or gravel, as in Buzzards Bay; while the greater part of the clam 

 supply comes from a large and rather indefinite area, which is not 

 properly tide flat at all, but lies continuously submerged. 



The methods employed in carrying on this industry include both wet 

 and dry digging. On the tide flats the clams are dug as elsewhere on 

 the south shore, with hoes or the common digger. Where, however, 

 clams are dug in 2 or 3 feet of water, as is most frequently the ease, 

 an ordinary long-handled shovel and wire basket are employed. The 

 soil containing the clams is shoveled into the baskets, and then the clams 

 are sifted out under water. Several years ago an attempt was made 

 to dig clams by machinery. An enterprising oysterman spent several 

 hundred dollars in constructing a machine which was designed to farm 

 the under-water districts more quickly and successfully than could be 

 done by hand. The device had some of the principles of a suction 

 pump, and theoretically the clams on the submerged flats could be 

 washed out from the soil and collected in a receptacle. The machine 

 worked well enough in extracting the clams from the mud, but failed 



