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bulletin of the bureau of fisheries. 
In the early colonial days, however, the settlers did eat mussels, as may be seen in 
Lescarbot’s description of De Mont’s settlement at St. Croix Island (Dochet Island of 
to-day), written in 1604. From this account Ganong (1889) makes the following 
quotation : 
There is a little chapel built after the fashion of the savages, at the foot of which there is such a 
store of mussels as is wonderful, which may be gathered at low tide, but they are small. I believe 
that Monsieur De Mont’s people did not forget to choose and take the biggest and left there but the 
small ones to grow and increase. 
Of how the change in attitude toward the mussel and clam came about Ganong 
(1889) offers a very plausible explanation. He attributes it to the influence of the 
Indians, who ate the soft-shelled clam to the almost total neglect of the mussel, which, 
without reason, they superstitiously avoided. He furthermore thinks that this was 
unfortunate for us, since the mussel is a superior article of food. Goode (1887) refers 
to the use of mussels on the northwest coast of America, where it is the chief molluscan 
food. The Indian women and children collect them from the rocks every day the year 
around. Mussels are also consumed by the white inhabitants of that region. The 
Russian name for them is “black shells” (chornie rakooshka). In Alaska the method 
of cooking is by boiling; on Vancouver Island they are more commonly roasted. 
Aside from being useful as an article of food, the sea mussel is valuable for other 
purposes, the most important of which is bait. In England the mussel is valued as 
the best hook bait known. The quantity used in Great Britain for this purpose amounts 
to more than 100,000 tons annually. In this country, however, fishermen rank it 
second to the squid in bait value. 
Next in importance the mussels are valuable for the production of fertilizer. The 
so-called mussel mud constitutes one of the best fertilizers known. It is formed in 
places where the mussel beds are exposed to constantly depositing silt, which slowly 
destroys the mollusks and buries them beneath their offspring. The slow accumulation 
and decay forms a mass of very rich fertilizer, enormous quantities of which are taken 
along the coasts of Long Island and New Jersey, where it is considered excellent for 
carrots and onions. Goode (1887) stated that for the last thirty years he had seen it 
applied to lands where onions had been grown with a product varying from 300 to 600 
bushels per acre. At that time the mussel mud sold, delivered several miles from where 
it was dug, at $4 to $5 a cord. It is gathered during the winter, piled up and exposed 
to the frosts, and then distributed in amounts of from 4 to 8 cords to the acre. For 
bait and fertilizer the value of the mussel fishery to the United States is estimated at 
$37,500 annually. 
Pearls of some value are sometimes found in mussels. Usually, however, although 
quite commonly present, they are small and of such poor color that the price they bring 
is low. In England they have been sold for from is. 6d. to 4s. per ounce. 
The shells can be used by oyster planters for cultch upon which to catch oyster 
spat. When polished, they may be used in numerous ways. Artists use them as 
receptacles for gold or silver paint. They may be mounted on marble for paper weights 
