[Illustration: =The Scallop Rake.=--The use of this rake is confined almost exclusively to the town of Chatham. Both scallops and quahaugs can be taken with it. The bowl is formed by a curve of the prongs, which are held together by two long cross bars at the top and bottom of the basket, while the ends are enclosed by short strips of iron. Handles from 15 to 20 feet long are generally used with this rake.] [Illustration: =Rowley Reef Clam Set.=--This photograph shows the surface of Rowley Reef, one of the flats of Plum Island Sound. In the summer of 1906 a heavy set of clams was found on this flat, averaging 1,500 to the square foot of surface. These rapidly diminished, and one year later, Aug. 27, 1907, when this photograph was taken, the clams numbered about 400 to the square foot. This area furnished an excellent illustration of the great destruction of natural clam set. Only 5 per cent. of these clams reached maturity, and the remaining 95 per cent., destroyed by natural agencies, could have been saved if proper measures had been taken. At least 100 acres of the barren flats of Rowley could have been planted with the "seed" from this flat, and after two years the crop would have been worth $30,000. The present shellfish laws of the Commonwealth are alone to blame for this waste. The clam hoe shown in the foreground is the typical digger or "hooker" of the North Shore clammer.] [Illustration: =Rowley Reef.=--This photograph, taken on the same date as the preceding, shows another section of the reef, where the clam set has been torn up and destroyed by horse-shoe crabs and cockles.] [Illustration: =Rowley Reef.=--A photograph, natural size, of a thickly set part of the same flat. The broken shells on top show clams which have been crowded out of the sand and destroyed. In this way nature regulates the number of clams in a given area.] [Illustration: =Castle Neck Flat= (=Essex River=).--A scene at low tide, Aug. 28, 1907, showing the area turned over by two clammers in one hour. At this date there was a heavy set of small clams on this flat.] [Illustration: =Plymouth Harbor.=--This photograph was taken at low tide, from the boat house of Mr. Frank Cole. In the foreground are a few of the experimental clam beds of the Massachusetts department of fisheries and game. Note the large tracts of eel grass covering the flats.] [Illustration: =Cole's Clam Grant.=--This photograph shows a portion of the grant leased to Mr. Frank Cole by the town of Kingston for the propagation of clams. Several of the experimental beds of the Massachusetts department of fisheries and game were situated on this grant.]