The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
July 5, 1924 
960 
i' 
More About 
Maine Clambake 
Someone wants to know how to “pull 
off” a clambake. Well, I can tell them, 
but it takes experience. I do not think 
there is a man on the Maine coast who 
has managed as many or as large ones as 
I, and I have been very successful at it, 
and serve as high as 700 at one time. 
Here is my way, and then, after telling 
you, you have to be governed by the heat 
of your rocks and the dampness of your 
roekweed : 
Build of rocks a platform the size you 
will want, about 4 ft. wide and as long 
as you need, allowing 1 ft. for one bushel 
of clams, and one bushel should feed 20. 
After platform is built, pile on wood and 
start the fire. See that there is live fire 
all over the rocks. Keep a good hot fire 
(hard wood is best) until sure the rocks 
are, hot enough. Have the roekweed near 
by, and clams washed clean and in feed 
sacks, about one-half bushel in a sack. 
Tie! near the end so that the clams will 
flatten out thin. 
When rocks are hot, rake off every bit 
of fire (work quick), spread 4 or 5 in. of 
seaweed over the platform. Lay bags on 
and cover with 1 ft. of roekweed. Put 
over this an old canvas and wait 40 or 45 
minutes. Uncover, and the clams are 
ready to eat, and delicious. If you want 
with it lobsters and sweet potatoes, green 
corn, etc., do the same thing and leave 
them covered 50 or 55 minutes. J. s. D. 
Seaweedless Clambake 
A substitute clambake without seaweed 
is thus described by the New York Eve¬ 
ning Telegram Cook Book : 
A clambake in a boiler will not taste 
like an open air bake without seaweed 
unless clean hay moistened with salt 
water (sea salt obtainable at druggists 
would be best, though not essential), is 
used. Surely stones could be found in 
any country place. Those the size of 
cobbles are best, but a bed of heated 
stones is necessary to cook the “bake.” 
Possibly a large flat rock would do. 
Place the stones close together in a 
slightly hollowed circular spot from three 
to six feet across. On this build a huge 
bonfire, and let it burn briskly for two 
hours. When the fire burns down sweep 
off the embers with boughs and branches 
and spread a thick layer of the wet hay 
(or seaweed) on the hissing hot stones. 
Then potatoes, Irish and sweet are scat¬ 
tered over the seaweed or hay. Oysters 
and clams in the shell come next. .Fish 
and chickens (the chicken is handier if 
cut up as for fricassee) are seasoned and 
prepared for cooking, wrapped up in 
pieces of clean cheesecloth and added to 
the bake. Over all spread sweet corn 
from which the outer husk is removed. 
Now with pitchforks cover everything 
from sight with a thick layer of the wet 
hay, and draw a large canvas or sail¬ 
cloth over the whole. Around the edges 
sand is shoveled until there is not a crack 
or crevice from which steam can escape. 
Leave it to cook for two hours without 
disturbing then carefully roll the can¬ 
vas aside, remove the hay, and dish the 
bake, putting each kind of food on large 
platters or shining tin pans. Finish off 
with watermelons and coffee. 
Allow two ears of corn, two potatoes, 
both sweet and Irish, 12 oysters and 
cl .ms for each person, one small chicken 
for four persons, and two large fish for 
25 persons as all do not partake of this. 
This is the way clambakes are made 
by private parties on Narragansett Bay 
and adjoining places. Clams, roekweed 
—not seaweed, stones, wood, sweet and 
white potatoes, fish, sometimes lobster, 
sausage, onions, dressing (or stuffing), 
sweet corn, brown and white bread and 
plenty of melted butter—enough of 
everything. A nice sunny day ; and when 
it is done you will say a feast for a king. 
First get some stones about the size 
of one’s head and make a circle of them, 
placing them so there will be as small 
a space possible between them. Have 
the oven as it is called, about three feet 
in diameter. Then place your kindlings 
on and build the cordwood in solid log 
cabin style, placing stones the size of the 
fist in every other layer so they will heat 
and make the oven level. When the oven 
is hot (we allow one and a quarter 
hours), sweep off all the embers and 
sticks. If they are left on the bake will 
taste smoky. Place two bushels of rock- 
weed over the oven, about six inches 
deep, having it cover all the stones, and 
on that pile half bushel clams, (wash 
them and see there are no broken or dead 
ones), 5 lbs. each of sweet and white po¬ 
tatoes sliced one-third inch ; 5 lbs. saus¬ 
ages rolled in wrapping paper, 10 lbs. 
fish sliced, seasoned and wrapped in 
paper, four dozen sweet corn stripped to 
the last husk, which acts as a cover, and 
pie pans of your favorite, stuffing covered 
with paper; 5 lbs. onions boiled and 
seasoned, tied in a bag. Have everything 
ready at the side of the bake, and the 
minute the oven is ready pile on in this 
order: Clams, potatoes, fish, sausages, 
and corn and dressing turned top side 
down. In the center top put the bag of 
onions, cover with clean wet cloth, pile 
on all roekweed y/u can and cover with 
canvas to keep in steam. Bake 1% 
hours, then make a small opening and 
a Clambake 
try a potato. If done, cover the hole 
and let stand five or 10 minutes longer. 
An undercooked bake is horrid. 
Set the table under a shady tree and 
don’t put on a tablecloth, as a clam din 
ner makes a very sticky mess, and one 
cannot be formal at one of them. That 
is one of the times when your fingers are 
a much handier article than cutlery. This 
will serve 18. I wish you might have 
eaten of the three we had last Summer 
under the maple tree at the side of the 
house. I guarantee you would have gone 
back to the bake and eaten more ere the 
day was done. We end our feast with 
watermelon. For genuine sociability 
there is nothing can surpass a clambake 
at home. 
Sometimes we make clam chowder and 
clam cakes. For the chowder we would 
fry out one-third pound salt pork and 
cook eight medium onions cut fine in the 
fat, taking care not to scorch them. Pare 
and cut three quarts potatoes in slices 
and boil in just enough water to cover 
them ; two quarts of clams drained of the 
liquor and the liquor brought to a boil 
and scum removed. Take out clam stom¬ 
ach and remove the grit. Cut off the 
black on snout and chop the head and 
rim. When the potatoes are done add 
clams and clam water, let come up to a 
good boil and add two quarts of milk. 
Don’t boil after milk is put in, only al¬ 
low it to scald, or the milk will curdle. 
Serve with crackers. Add pepper but. 
not salt until you have tasted to see how 
salty it is. This recipe has been used 
for 50 years in my home. 
We live on the shore where we get 
clams and pull the roekweed from the 
stones. The little sacks of water on the 
weed burst and make the steam to cook 
the bake. It is far superior to the sea¬ 
weed, which doesn’t have the water sacks. 
One needs several helpers on the job, 
and the wife will need help also. Hustle, 
is the only word to express what to do 
in putting the bake in; after that don’t 
try to hustle its cooking or you will 
have a failure. E. R. A. 
Several weeks ago you asked for direc¬ 
tions for making a clambake, and so as 
I have not seen any answer to your in¬ 
quiry I drove up the road a piece to get 
information for you from a man who has 
been making clambakes for 50 years. He 
told me that he made a bake a few years 
ago when the Shriners from all New Eng¬ 
land met; there were over one thousand 
there, and they all declared they never 
had eaten such a feast in their lives. He 
said one really ought to see one put to¬ 
gether to have the best success; however 
he gave me these general directions. 
For a party of 25 build the fireplace 
from 3% to 4 ft. in diameter. Take off 
a few shovelfuls of soil from center. Se¬ 
lect stones as large as a man’s head, if 
possible flat on one side, arrange them 
all over fireplace with flat side up It 
should be slightly concave when finished. 
Throw dirt up all around outside edge 
even with top of stones. Build fire and 
heat stones to white heat. It will take 
nearly one-half cord dry hardwood. 
When stones are hot enough brush off 
all ashes and embers, and put on the 
clams, about one-half barrel, then spread 
evenly over stones next six broilers and 
at least two sweet potatoes for each 
guest, then one dozen lobsters, then half 
bushel sweet corn unhusked, then about 
two eggs apiece or more for each one. 
Pack -in with these things two or three 
brown bread loaves, if you like, which 
have been steamed and have been tightly 
covered. Fasten over the whole a heavy 
canvas, weight it down tightly to keep in 
steam, and put on about one-half barrel 
roekweed; this trims it up and also 
keeps in the heat. B. H. s. 
Maine. 
Unassimilated Aliens 
The article by G. B. F., on page 882, 
suggests comparing the rural vote of New 
York State with the present and possible 
future immigrant vote. Census statistics 
show that on Jan. 1, 1920, the rural resi¬ 
dents of New York State of voting age 
numbered 450,000. The naturalized citi¬ 
zens, 90 per cent of whom live in the 
cities of the State, numbered 600,000, ex¬ 
ceeding the rural vote by 156,000. 
The unnaturalized foreign-born of vot¬ 
ing age numbered 1,374.000, over three 
times the rural vote, New York City, 
with over a million, having more than 
double the rural vote. 
The unnaturalized Russians and Ital¬ 
ians of voting age in New York City 
number 500,000, exceeding the rural vote 
by 50,000. 
The unnaturalized foreign-born in the 
State today are chiefly immigrants from 
Russia, Poland and Italy. Their peculiar 
racial and nationalistic characteristics 
separate them widely from the Northern 
European or Nordic stock, from which 
sprang the bulk of the native Americans. 
These non-Nordic immigrants live in for¬ 
eign colonies in the large cities, and are 
not subjected to the Americanizing influ¬ 
ences which surround the Northern Eu¬ 
ropean immigrant, who intermarries with 
native Americans and lives among them. 
The naturalized and native-born non- 
Nordics distinguish themselves by voting 
almost unanimously for daylight saving, 
wet candidates and unnecessary public 
expenditures. The new immigration law 
will prevent further increase of non- 
Nordic population. Measures should be 
adopted, however, to protect the interests 
of the farmer from 'the millions of aliens 
unnaturalized as yet. The naturalization 
law should be amended to require of the 
alien a preliminary residence of 15 years, 
instead of five, as at present. In addi¬ 
tion, the alien should be required to show 
that he is really Americanized in speech, 
thoughts and habits. John jones. 
New York. 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK 
DOMESTIC.—The Farmer-Labor con¬ 
vention at St. Paul, Minn., adjourned 
July 19 after the following nominations: 
For President, Duncan MacDonald, 
miner, of Illinois; for Vice-president, 
William Bouek, farmer, of Washington. 
The main planks in the platform : Na¬ 
tionalization of industries, abolition of 
private titles to lands, loans free of in¬ 
terest to farmers. 
Three persons were killed and one was 
slightly injured June 22 when an auto¬ 
mobile in which they were riding over the 
Woodhaven Ave. crossing of the Long 
Island Railroad, Woodhaven, N. Y., was 
hit by an eastbonnd express of the Roek- 
away Beach division. The police allege 
the gates were up when the car started 
across the rails. John Pett, the gateman, 
was locked up on a charge of homicide. 
The dead are: Mrs. Nellie Karcher, 47. 
of 10480 113th St., Richmond Hill. 
Queens; John O’Graure. 65, of 104SS 
113th St., Richmond Hill, and Mrs. 
Phoebe Furman, 60, of the same address. 
Two world’s records for weight-carry¬ 
ing during airplane flights were reported 
made at Louisville, Ivy., June 21, by 
Lieuts. John A. Macready and Harold R. 
Harris, participants in an air carnival 
staged as a part of a Kentucky “home¬ 
coming” celebration. Macready, flying an 
eight-passenger army transport plane car¬ 
rying 551 lbs., remained in the air seven 
hours and 20 and a fraction minutes. 
Flying a Martin bomber with a cargo of 
1,102 lbs., including a passenger, Harris 
remained in the air seven hours, 29 and a 
fraction minutes. 
Lieut. Russell L. Maughan, army flyer, 
successfully completed his daylight-to- 
dusk flight from New York to San Fran¬ 
cisco when he landed at Crissy Field at 
9 :4S p. m., June 23. The full time of the 
trip was 21 hours 48% minutes. 
Seven armed robbers entered the West 
Farms car barns of the Union Railway 
Company, the Bronx, New York, early 
June 23, held up 10 street car conductors, 
beat down one man who attempted to re¬ 
sist them, and escaped with $450 after 
hot pursuit. 
Forty-one prisoners tunneled their way 
out of Shelby County Jail, Memphis, 
Tenn., June 23. Four were captured dur¬ 
ing the night and posses are seeking the 
others. Sheriff W. S. Knight said the 
wholesale delivery was engineered by H. 
Diggs Nolen, under sentences aggregating 
19 years in State and Federal peniten¬ 
tiaries, for forgery and violation of Fed¬ 
eral and anti-narcotic laws. The prison¬ 
ers escaped by digging a bole through a 
3-ft. brick wall, using pieces of an iron 
cot and a table knife and fork. 
New York and New Jersey have lower 
infant mortality rates than any other 
Eastern States, the New Jersey Depart¬ 
ment of Health announced June 24. Pro¬ 
visional statistics of the United States 
Children’s Bureau show New York and 
New Jersey have only 72 deaths of in¬ 
fants under one year to each 1,000 live 
births. Bergen Co., N. J., had the lowest 
infant death rate last year of any county 
in that State. The record was 59 infant 
deaths in 1.000. Salem County was high¬ 
est. with 112 deaths per 1.000. Eliza¬ 
beth and Paterson tied for lowest death 
rates in New Jersey cities of more than 
100,000. Both had a death rate of 67 
per 1.000 births. 
Explosions June 24 in the hold of the 
freighter Egremont Castle, loading at Red 
Hook Point, Brooklyn, with inflammable 
oils for the Orient, turned the vessel into 
a shell of hot steel from which shot whirl¬ 
ing geysers of liquid flame. Five men are 
missing and believed to have been burned 
to death. Seven others were badly burned. 
The only account of how the fires started 
is given by John Young, one of 18 steve¬ 
dores working in the hold where the first 
explosion let go. Its force blasted Young 
and another man, Louis Larson, out of 
the hold to the deck. This w’him of for¬ 
tune bumped Young out of what became 
a seething pool of fire in a few minutes, 
but he is in a critical condition from 
burns and injuries. Young declares a 
“draft” of some 50 10-gallon cans of oil 
shook loose from the iron chains that 
bound them as they were being lowered. 
The explosion followed, but it is not 
known how. 
The fifteenth annual convention of the 
Northern Nut Growers’ Association will 
be held in the Botanical Museum, Bronx 
Park, New York City, on Sept. 3-5, 1924. 
All interested persons will be welcome. 
IV. C. Deming, secretary, 983 Main St., 
Hartford, Conn. 
WASHINGTON.—The June fiscal op¬ 
erations of the Treasury, while ranking 
among the smallest of post-war financial 
issues, will have a wider permanent effect 
in the way of cuts in fixed expenditures 
of the government than most of the quar¬ 
terly operations in the last five years. 
Treasury experts have calculated that a 
saving of approximately $22,000,000 in 
annual interest charges will result from 
the change in the public debt situation 
accomplished in June. About $150,000,- 
000 in new securities have gone on the 
market from the Treasury this month, but 
proceeds from these with balances on 
hand and payments in the second tax in¬ 
stallment will retire something like $445,- 
000,000 in Treasury notes and tax certifi¬ 
cates which matured June 15. The tax 
certificates bore 4 per cent, and the 
Treasury notes, which were issued in 
1921, carried 5% per cent interest. The 
new certificates pay only 2% per cent 
interest, the lowest rate of any govern¬ 
ment security since the issue of Panama 
Canal bonds. At, the same time the 
British government made a payment of 
$69,000,000 which, under the law, must 
be used to retire the American war-time 
debt. That payment therefore will cur 
off $69,000,000 of Liberty bonds bearing 
an average of almost 4 per cent interest. 
More than $350,000,000 will have 
poured into the Treasury coffers when 
the last of the June 15 collections of in¬ 
come taxes have been checked up. accord¬ 
ing to preliminary estimates June 23. 
This unexpectedly large return of quar¬ 
terly installments, together with a num¬ 
ber of other factors unforeseen when the 
original estimates were made last No¬ 
vember, will bring the Treasury surplus 
at the end of the fiscal year, the last day 
of June, safely above $500,000,000, it is 
declared. This figure is approximately 
$170,000,000 higher than the November 
estimate, which forecast a surplus rf 
$329,000,000. A number of developments 
have contributed to the changed condi¬ 
tions responsible for this variance. The 
British government recently turned over 
about $50,000,000 in cash as part of the 
June 15 payment of interest on that coun¬ 
try’s debt to the United States. It was 
not expected that any portion of the in¬ 
terest payment would be in cash, but 
rather in Liberty bonds and other gov¬ 
ernment securities. Another factor has 
been the unexpectedly large market for 
railroad securities held by the United 
States Railroad administration. The easy 
money market brought a demand for these 
securities, which accounts for approxi¬ 
mately another $50,000,000 of the differ¬ 
ence between the original estimates and 
the figures now reported. 
A Tractor Road Scraper at Work on a Southern New Jersey Road 
