Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1886-09-18
TILE RHODE ISLAND CLAY.
rs History from the Ocean Mud to the Table

prepared 10 M, dS IL Oi'N1 49,
i've TO fifteen ortwenty thousand peo-
pie in the course OF few hours Is
4 stupendous affair, and from the Dot
tom ND is a work TO be admired as
whole and wondered at i'll its details,
and few of the thousands who IN The
course of the summer season SIT down
10 clam dinners appreciate The WORK
cntailed in its preparation. FIRST anu
foremost. saws the IrOCtGeRce J0Hri1dt,
there is the clam. Most of the clans
used at the shore resorts OF Narragan-
sett bay come from the flats across the
baV from Nayatt. on tic Comment
shore and on Green's island. AS FAR
up as PawtuNet and abOnt Sabln'S
point the CLAIMS are considered hard,
clue shelled' and gritty; but across at
Bullock point they are good, and
the Bullock's pointers get their CLAIMS
right at home. Two-th!rds OF the
CLANS are got by "churning.' The
clam gang wades out over the bed and
.hove.s up mud and clans and every
thing that comes along into big wire
baskets. which, when about fun, are
lifted ont OF the water, and rlnSlng
and shaking washes out the mud and
leaves the CLANS. Two men and boy
attend TO each basket, one man shovel
ing in the mud, the second getting out
the clans, and the boy 'cuIllng' them.
Churning can only he done at about
half-tde, when tho water Is two or
three feet deep, as, by the time the
workman has to put his head under
water when he bends over ut shovel
ing, he soon has 10 give up the job.
The suction on the shovels Is tremen-
dous, and they are made exceptionally
strong. When there are good tides,
on the full and change OF the moon,
the clans may be raked out after the
manner of non-professional diggers;
shoveliul of mud is turned up at the
time, and the CLANS it contains are
raked out with the clam-hOe. Con-
sideration OF either of the above meth
DDS is sufficient for true understand
ing OF the happiness of the clam at
high water The clam ordinarily lies
in the mud from two to eighteen
inches; "a clam that would bury itself
much deeper than eighteen inches Is
not to be looked upon with favor. 1t
is 4 wearing life that the clam di2gc
lead. working rs they DO five or six
hours at time in the water, and so
hard as TO be constantly wet with per-
spiratiOn.
Capt, j. II. Northrup, who has been
the captain of the Rocky point clam
gang for some eleven years, and has
probably handled more clans in his
lifetime than any other man In Rhode
Island, gave The Journal representative
some interesting facts about the bust
ness. lie said that at Rocky point
alone last wear some 1000 bushels of
CLANS for The bake alone were used.
His regular clam gang is seventeen or
eighteen men. but on big days it is
necessary TO increase the force 10 fifty
or sixty men. This year the CLAIMS on
Green's island are only one year old,
and are ready for the bake--a remark
able case of clam growth. 1t appears
that when the clans are in great
abundance they grow very slowly, aud
those used last year from Green's
island were about three years old; but,
being few of them ''set" one year ago.
they grew large enough TO use very
rapidly.
! DO luC CNNI lul Otb bCiOiS
| the season is ended?" was asked the
captain.
'Oh, yes; and then we have 10 look
| somewhere else for them. Now, this
wear, before the season is over we
/ shall probably have to leave our pres
ent place and dig over in Coles river
and in the Kickemuit river. Those
/ will be Massachusetts clans, of course,
but they are Favored with Rhode
Island water Already the clans on
Green's island are thinning out, and
on the 1st of August shall raise the
pay of my men. They get 80 cents q
bushel now, and their pay will be
raised to 81 per bushel. Do | expect
the clans will get run out entirely?
Well, not just yet, and at present the
prospect is something wonderful for
next ear. | never saw such set OF
CLANS as are ali along the shore now
if they all lived there would be enough
clans TO supply the world next year.
just come with me and take look. "
The tide was about half in, and the
mud-tlats were scattered over with al
sorts of refuse, shells, and weeds. The
captain bent down and picked up wha'
looked at first like a minute, broker
of bit of clam-shell, but as 1t lay il
his hand, n closer look revealed it Il per
fcctly-formed clam-shell, Il beautiful
object, not as big as a baby's. little
finger nail, as white as alabasttS, and
the light showing pink through il.
delicate substance. The least pres
sure would have crushed it to almos
invisible atoms. That's clam, ,
said the captain, chats maybe tire,
weeks old. and you'll find million:
about here. As quick as they get any
size they will begin to burrow dowl
into the mud. The whole shore j.
covered with them, and in all my ex
perience of thirty years l never saw
such a set They are so thick tina
the prospect is they will not grow fast
and it will take two or three wears fol
them to get big enough unless the,
die of. A handful of these will max,
more'n bushel when they are grow
up" A careful look over the nudd,
beach revealed there beautiful minia
ture clam-shells yet without trace o
meat within them in hundreds, and
microscope would have shown thou
sands where the few were visible I,
the naked eye.
As the men are paid for their dig
ging by the bushel, it is evident tina
on skill aud hard work depends tn
amount of money the digger gets
while "churning" is evidently NOR
profitable than 'raking." Ever,