Net

NET. A fabric of thread, cord or wire, the intersections of which are knotted so as to form a mesh. The art of netting is intimately related to weaving, knitting, plaiting and lace-making, from all of which, however, it is distinguished by the knotting of the intersections of the cord. It is one of the most ancient and universal of arts, having been practised among the most primitive tribes, to whom the net is of great importance in hunting and fish ing. Net is a common Teut. word, of which the origin is unknown; it is not to be connected with "knit" or "knot." The term "net," i.e., remaining after all deductions, charges, etc., have been made, as in "net profit," is a variant of "neat," tidy, clean, Lat. nitidus, shining. Net-making, as a modern industry, is principally con cerned with the manufacture of the numerous forms of net used in fisheries, but netting is also largely employed for many other purposes, as for the temporary division of fields, for protecting fruit in gardens, for screens and other furniture purposes, for bags, appliances used in various games, etc. Since the early part of the i9th century numerous machines have been invented for netting, and several of these have attained commercial success. Fishing nets were formerly made principally from hemp fibre —technically called "twine." The forms of fishing nets vary according to the manner in which they are intended to act. This is either by entangling the fish in their complicated folds, as in the tram mel ; receiving them into pockets, as in the trawl; suspending them by the body in the meshes, as in the mackerel-net ; imprison ing them within their labyrinth-like cham bers, as in the stake-net ; or drawing them to shore, as in the seine. The parts of a net are the head or upper margin, along which the corks are strung upon a rope called the head-rope ; the foot is the oppo site or lower margin, which carries the foot-rope, on which in many cases leaden plummets are made fast. The meshes are the squares composing the net. The width

of a net is expressed by the term "over"; e.g., a day-net is three fathoms long and one over or wide. The lever is the first row of a net. There are also accrues, false meshes or quarterings, which are loops inserted in any given row, by which the number of meshes is increased. To bread or breathe a net is to make a net.

'Syriac, tegfirta, lit. "merchandise." The Greek word may have been imroptov. Nothing is certainly known of any such Heraclides.

Hand-Netting.

The tools used in hand-netting are the needle, an instrument for holding and netting the material ; it is made with an eye E, a tongue T, and a fork F (fig. ). The twine is wound on it by being passed alternately between the fork and round the tongue, so that the turns of the string lie parallel to the length of the needle, and are kept on by the tongue and fork. A spool or mesh-pin is a piece of round or flat wood on which the loops are formed, the perimeter of the spool determining the size of the loops. Each loop contains two sides of the square mesh ; therefore, supposing that it be required to make a mesh iin. square—that is, measuring 'in. from knot to knot—a spool gin. in circumference must be used. Large meshes may be formed by giving the twine two or more turns round the spool, as occasion may require ; or the spool may be made flat, and of a sufficient width. The method of making the hand-knot, known as the fisherman's knot, is more easily acquired by example than described in writing. Fig. 2 shows the course of the twine in forming a single knot. From the last-formed knot the twine passes over the front of the mesh-pin, and is caught behind by the little finger of the left hand, form ing the loop, thence it passes to the front and is caught by the left thumb, then through the loops as sketch indicates, after which the twine is released by the thumb and the knot is drawn taut. Fig. 3 is a bend knot used for uniting two ends of twine.