AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
For the Farm, Garden, and Ffousehold. 
"AGRICULTURE IS THE MOST HEALTHFUL, MOST USEFUL, AND MOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OF MAN. ”— Washington". 
NEW YORK, JULY, 1881 
Volume XL.— No. 7. 
A FARMER'S CLAM BAKE . —Designed and Engraved for the American Agriculturist, 
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The recreations of farmers are greatly in¬ 
fluenced by their location. Those who live 
near the Great Lakes have their fishing ex¬ 
cursions to some favorite locality upon the 
beach of these great inland seas. Those of 
Northern New York find The Thousand Isles, 
or some other point on the St. Lawrence 
attractive as a fishing resort. All who are 
within reach of salt water make “ a shore 
day,” and wend their way to the ocean or 
some of its inlets, where a change of air 
and mode of living are often of great 
benefit. In those portions of New England 
connected by rail or otherwise with Narra- 
gansett Bay, the Clam-bake is the favorite 
recreation. It may be that the farmers of 
a neighborhood make up a party to go to 
one of the many shore resorts to pass the 
4th of July, or to celebrate the completion 
of the harvest, or, what is quite often the 
case, the materials for a shore festival are 
brought to the inland farm, and the Clam¬ 
bake, which is always the chief end of 
shore excursions, is enjoyed under the shade 
of the trees at home. Whether the people 
go to the Clam-bake or the Clam-bake comes 
to the people, the real, genuine thing is not 
known outside of a circle in communication 
with Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island, for 
no where else are such clams found, and 
nowhere else is the cooking of them so well 
understood. To make a bake, a circular 
hearth is paved with large stones, and if the 
bake is to be a large one, some loose large 
stones are placed here and there on the hearth. 
Then a fire is built, and there should be an 
abundance of fuel to heat the stones to a dull 
redness. When the fire has burned down 
and a good bed of coals is left, these are 
swept off by means of a brush of twigs, and 
at once the clams are turned upon the hot 
stones, in a compact heap, and quickly covered 
with sea-weed; clean rock-weed is put on 
next to the clams, and then the drift-weed 
piled on. If sea-weed is scarce, a piece of 
old canvas is put over the heap, the object 
being to retain all the steam and heat possible. 
This is the plain bake of clams only, but it is 
greatly varied ; fish of various kinds, cleaned 
and wrapped in cloths ; crabs and lobsters ; 
green com with all but the thin inner husk 
removed, and various other things, even 
spring chickens, are placed among the clams 
before the sea-weed is put on. When the 
Copyright, 1881, by Orange Judd Company. 
Entered at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., as Second Crass Matter. 
