III. _The Development of Inland Markets._--The consumption of clams for food in the coast towns continued throughout the rise and gradual decline of the bait industry, but the creation of inland markets did not begin to be an important factor until 1875. It was about this time that the clam came to be generally looked upon throughout the State as an article of food, and consequently an important industry was gradually evolved to meet this growing demand. This step marked the beginning of the extensive fishery of the present day. The mistaken policy of the average shellfish community, which regarded clam grounds as natural gardens of inexhaustible fertility, still persisted even after the fallacy of this policy had long proved apparent through the depletion of extensive tracts. The same ill-advised methods were pursued to the ultimate ruination of much valuable territory. All wise regard for the future was overshadowed by the immediate needs of the present; local legislation fostered the evil; State legislation was conspicuous by its absence; and, left to the mercy of unsystematic overdigging, these natural resources rapidly wasted away. The disastrous tendencies which have lurked in the ruling policy of the clam fishery have been shown in the rise and fall of the industry in certain localities. Forty years ago Duxbury and Plymouth ranked as the greatest clam towns of the coast. Their supply has long since become insignificant. Newburyport and Ipswich have become the chief producers of the State clam harvest; but Essex and Gloucester, in the same fertile regions, have greatly declined, and the industry at Rowley has become nearly extinct. In the Fall River district the digging of small seed clams for food has brought the fishery to the verge of ruin. The few resources of Buzzards Bay have become nearly exhausted, while on Cape Cod the industry has shown here and there a temporary increase, overshadowed by a far more extensive decline, such as at Chatham. Furthermore, the sewage contamination of coast waters in the harbors of Boston and several other large cities have closed extensive regions for the production of food.