The town of Plymouth has endeavored in several ways to develop the industry. It has appropriated money to restock the flats, a close season has been tried, and an attempt made to solve the problem by the giving of private grants. While these grants have not always been run in as energetic a manner as could be desired, the experiment has proved conclusively that there are great possibilities in such a system. In short, there can be little doubt that in the proper administration of private grants lies the key to the solution of the problem which confronts this whole region. As clams were once abundant in Plymouth harbor, and as no apparent causes other than excessive digging appear to have brought about the decline, there seems to be no logical reason why this amount of territory (500 acres) should not yield its proper harvest. As for the vast extent of eel-grass flats, with all their undetermined possibilities, they can well afford to wait until the more immediate and pressing problems of the flats already available for clam culture have been solved. COMPARISON OF 1907 WITH 1879. ======+============+========= YEAR. | Production | Value. | (Bushels). | ------+------------+--------- 1879, | 5,000 | $2,500 1907, | 3,000 | 2,500 ======+============+========= SUMMARY OF INDUSTRY. Number of men, 6 Capital invested, $60 Value of shore property, - Production, 1907:-- Bushels, 3,000 Value, $2,500 Total area (acres):-- Sand, 400 Mud, 100 Gravel, - Mussels and eel grass, 1,100 Total, 1,600 Productive area (acres):-- Good clamming, 10 Scattering clams, 50 Barren area possibly productive (acres), 440 Waste barren area (acres), 1,100 Possible normal production, $58,000 _Barnstable._ The clam industry at Barnstable, while not so extensive as at Ipswich or Essex, is nevertheless of special interest. The immensely long coast line, stretching for many miles on both the north and south shores of Cape Cod, gives the town a shellfish area both in Cape Cod Bay and Vineyard Sound which renders it unrivalled throughout the State for variety of marine life and diversity of natural environment. These conditions, as they affect clam culture, are best suited on the northern or bay side of the town, where the clam industry flourishes more extensively, as the southern shore is almost wholly given up to the rival quahaug, oyster and scallop fisheries.