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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



Through this loop (F) the ball (E) is passed also from above 

 downward (as shown at G), and pulled taut to the left thumb, 

 where the knot is felt to turn part way around, and is found to be 

 a perfectly formed square knot as shown in Fig. 4, at G. 



This second tier of meshes completed, the operator shifts the 

 ball to the left hand and the mesh-block to the right, and makes 

 the third tier from right to left. The final tier with its clews and 

 selvage are made by reversing the process described for begin- 

 ning the net. 



Fig. 4. 



This method of meshing, though unfamiliar, has several dis- 

 tinct advantages over the more usual method ; of which one in- 

 heres in the knot itself, two in the line of greater simphcity m 

 the mode of manufacture, and one in the possibility of easily pro- 

 ducing irregular designs for particular purposes— that is to say, 

 of netting pockets and pounds without interruption of the thread. 



The advantage in the knot is one which will immediately 

 be apparent to those who have given attention to the study of 

 knots for the reef knot is incontestably the simplest and most 

 secure means of joining two parts of cord. The advantages m 

 tlie mode of manufacture are that one implement, the nettmg- 

 needle, is dispensed with, and that the net may be made of a 

 single cord continuous throughout, and thus is of equal strength 

 in every part. It would be tedious to go into the details of mak- 

 ing pounds and pockets in a net ; it is more simple than appears, 

 and the thread continues without a break through the net and 

 insert-piece as well. It is possible that some one skilled m me- 

 chanical arts may find in this device the suggestion of a mode of 

 simplifying the machinery at present used in the manufacture ot 

 nets for commercial purposes. 



