The record-union., 1898-12-05
CERTAIN SHELLFISH.
MoLLUsKs DISAPPEARING ON
EASTERN COASTS.
The Clam, Quahaug and Scallop
Are Growing Scarce-Artifi-
cial Propagation.
80

rate along the coasts of Massachu
sets and Rhode Island. and in Long
Island Sound. that attempts are being
made to repair the mischief by arti-
f1cial propagation. The mollusks re-
ferred to are long CLANS, round CLAIMS
and scallops. Some advice on the sub
ject has been given by the United
State Fish Commission, and results
quite remarkable have already been ac-
complished.
For example, at Essex, Mass, num-
Der of lots of one acre We're staked off
a few years ago on the flats of the
Essex River, and were let to various
persons at q nominal rental of 81 per
acre for term of years. Long clans
of small size. obtained from natural
beds, were planted on these unproduc-
tive flats, 500 bushels to an acre. The
lots in question now yield twenty five
hundred barrels per annum. 1t is found
that the cultivated CLAIMS are as large
as the best ones of natural growth, and
more uniform in size; they fetch ST. 10
barrel, against $3.50 for ordinary
CLAIMS, as sold by the packers. One
acre of flats, we'll seeded, is worth ST.
600 to-day. 1t is believed that the in
dustry can be prosecuted on an exten-
sive scale and with large profit. A
long clam attains a size of two inches
in year.
The long clam, or squirt clam, so
familiar to picnic parties at the sea-
shore, is otherwise know as the soft"
clam. and to the English the sand
gaper" or "old mail" 1t is an animal
of very wide distribution, occurring all
hn
Arctic Ocean, where seals, walrus, po-
lar bears and Arctic foxes feed upon it,
1t is nowhere so abundant as on the
New England coast, however. Sue
cessful attempts have been made to
plant CLAIMS in the neighborhood of
Bridgeport, flats being plowed and
seeded with small ones. Three years
after this was dong the areas planted
were as full as a colander of the holes
which mark the burrows of the mol
lusks. Digging down, the clans were
found shoulder to shoulder and actual
ly piled on top of each other. Such a
bank is very remunerative, yielding an
interest as regular as field of corn
| or tobacco. The income obtained is
| much greater per acre, and the land
never has to lie fallow.
If one examines a soft clam freshly
captured there will be found projecting
from one end blackish wrinkled lump,
which, on being irritated, quickly with
draws, throwing out at the same time
| a little stream of water. But put this
| forbidding- looking creature in a shall
| low pan of fresh sea-water and leave
| it few hours, until it recovers con-
fidence Then the blackened tube grad
ually protrudes from the shell and
| slowly extends itself to length of
several inches. Now 1t is easy to see
| that the organ has two openings at the
end, beautifully fringed with appen-
dages like little fee1ers. The organ real
| ly consists of two tubes, leading to the
body of the clam, and If you observe
the openings closely you will see a
| current of water flowing into one of
them and another current as steadily
out of the other.Y
HOW THE SOFT CLAM LIVES.
| AS the soft clam lies in his burrow he
| pushes his tubes up into the sea-
water above and sucks in a stream
which bears not only the microscopic
| particles of organic matter that serve
as his food, but also the oxygen which
| he requires. Flowing out. the current
carries with 1t the excrementitious mat
| ter. With this animal it is never long
between drinks, which may account for
the adage, Happy as a clam"
| In the spring the eggs of the clam is
sue into the cavities of the outer gills.
| Here they develop and form little pa
perry shells. At this stage the young
CLAIMS are just about big enough to be
seen with the naked eye. Presently
they are discharged into the water,
and by this time they are ready to take
care of themselves, anchoring them
selves to the bottom by slender threads
| and holding on against the current.
| Soft clans betray their hiding places
| to the knowing hunter by emitting oc-
| casional squirts of water when the re-
| firing tide has left their banks bare.
| Hogs root them out and devour great
quantities of them. They are widely
distributed and important food product,
and it would be a great pity If this ele-
ment of marine wealth and industry
| should be wiped out.
| 1t may be that some day method
| will be devised for propagating the
! round clam, or 'quahaug," which is
likewise threatened with extinction
along the New England coast and else
where. It's mode of breeding is the
same as that of the soft clam. Natur-
alists say that the round clam has a
| fair gift of locomotion and can travel
pretty fast when it wants to. 1t at
| tains a middle size, SO as to be fit for
eating in about five years. Long before
Columbus caNe to America the Indians
| had found great many uses for the
/ 9,o rs1nynd the Chal1c a
utensils and implements, such as ar
| row points. paint holders and spoons.
The purple eye and edge they utilized
| for wampum and in the manufacture
| of war belts and insignia of authority.
The meats were dried for trade pur-
| poses. Historians aver that the coast
| tribes, conquered by the Six Nations,
| were obliged to pay regular tribute in
| clans, which were dried in the sun
| on pieces of bark. Some years ago
| factory was started in New Jersey for
preserving CLAIMS and oysters by dry
Ting and granulation. 1t is said that the
| desiccated clam meats thus put up were
excellent for soups and chowders, but
| for some reason they did not find favor
and the industry was abandoned.
| Many people are very fond of seal
| lops. as may be judged from the fact
| that nearly 10000 gallons of the meats
were used in New York and Brooklyn
| in 1897. Of course, these bivalves like
wise are hunted persistently. and the
prospect is that before very long COM
paratively few of them will be left. 1t
| has been suggested that they might be
propagated in great salt ponds. which
could be utilized as preserves Unques-
tinnahlv they could be bred by mixing