NETS (AS, net, Goth. nati, 011G. 71CZZi, Ger. Net:, net, of doubtful etymology; possibly con nected with Lat. nassa, wee)). Open fabrics of cotton, linen, hemp, silk, or other material. whose threads usually cross each other at right angles, leaving a comparatively large open space between them. The open spaces in nets are called meshes. The threads may be tied at their intersection, thus constituting a true netting. or they may he simply crossed by the process of weaving. The art of net-making has been practiced from the earliest times. Even where the art of weaving ryas quite unknown, as in some of the South Sea Islands when first discovered, that of netting was well undersgood; hence we find among savage tribes, almost universally, nets are used not only for fishing, but also for entrapping land animals. Numerous illustrations of the use of nets for both purposes are found in the bas-reliefs of Assyria, Greece, and Rome, and in the mural paintings of Egypt.
A great variety of nets are in use among fishermen, but the principal are the seine and the trawl. The seine is a very long but not very wide net, one side of which is loaded with pieces of lead, and consequently sinks: the other, or upper side, is buoyed with pieces of cork. and consequently is kept up to the surface. When
stretched out they constitute walls of net-work in the water, and are made to inclose schools of fish. The trawl is dragged along the by the fishing-boat. It is a large net, often 50 feet wide and 100 feet deep, narrowing into a fine-meshed purse at the extremity, with pockets at the sides to retain the entangled fish. Some times the mouth is stretched apart by an iron beam, which rests upon supports shaped like runners, holding the distended net lip about three feet from the sea liOttom, while the belly of the net. held in front by the ground rope. drags along the bottom. Such nets, called brunt-trawls, arc operated in deep water by large fishing smacks.
Various kinds of nets are used in bird-catching, and also in catching quadrupeds, chiefly for the purpose of within which they are, but sometimes also fur throwing upon them to confuse and entangle then]. Nets are used by gardeners to protect crops front birds; also to protect the blossoms of trees from frost.
Other fabric: for various uses, with wide. open meshes are also called nets, as holi-ncts, mosquito 1.5, rte. See LACE : B013111NET ; BRUSSELS SET ; I\ NULLING.