BAG-NETS. 165 



purchased out of the stow-boats by various dealers who 

 supply the markets. The takes are sometimes enor- 

 mous ; and when the fish cannot be got to market in 

 proper time, or the demand there is slack, they are sold 

 for manure, for which purpose they are at times in 

 great request. No approximate estimate of the vast 

 quantity of sprats taken every winter by the stow-nets 

 can be made. The supply fluctuates from year to year ; 

 but the scarcity or abundance in any one season has no 

 ajiparent connection with the extent of the fishery in the 

 previous one. 



The Trim-net. 



This net is constructed on the same principle and 

 worked in the same manner as the stow-net, but is very 

 much smaller. It was originally used in fresh water, 

 but has found its way to the entrance of certain rivers 

 running into the Wash ; and is employed for catching 

 smelts, eels, and flounders, fishes which are found more 

 or less where the water is partly tidal, and therefore 

 brackish. The main points of difference between the 

 trim-net and the stow-net are in size and in the shape of 

 the mouth. Instead of having a nearly square entrance 

 as in the stow-net, the trim-net has a triangular mouth ; 

 the lower part being fastened to a beam 22 feet in 

 length, and the two sides each to a pole 18 feet long, 

 so that the mouth of the net is always kept open by 

 this wooden frame. The net itself is only about 30 feet 

 long, and can be worked with much smaller boats than 

 are required for the gigantic stow-net. It is set facing 

 the stream in precisely the same manner as the otlier 

 net, and of course catches an immense quantity of 

 small fish at times, besides those kinds for which it is 

 professedly employed. 



