560 



NET-MAKING. 



state lottery so as to produce 601,400 guilders 

 annually, instead of 473,000 guilders. On April 

 27 a monetary act was passed authorizing the 

 Minister of Finance to melt down and sell 2-&- 

 guilder pieces up to the amount of 25,000,000 

 guilders. This law was passed to prevent the 

 depreciation of the Dutch currency. Under 

 the existing circumstances every one may dis- 

 charge his debts in either gold or silver coin, 

 and every one can have gold coins, but not sil- 

 ver. The Minister of Foreign Affairs issued a 

 circular to the Dutch diplomatic representa- 

 tives in November, in which he said that the 

 Government would not avail itself of the per- 

 mission unless the gold reserve of the Bank of 

 Holland fell below 5,000,000 guilders. The 

 circular expresses the conviction of the Dutch 

 Government that the remedy for the present 

 inconvenient state of things lies in the adop- 

 tion of bimetallism on a large scale. 



ITCT - MAKING. The art of net-making by 

 hand, essentially as it exists to-day, is prehis- 

 toric. The ancient lake-dwellers of Switzer- 

 land used needles, or more properly shuttles, 

 such as are found in every fisherman's kit, and 

 fragments of ancient nets have been found made, 

 apparently, precisely as fishermen make them 

 now. The art was practiced in both continents, 

 and was apparently discovered by races that, so 

 far as we know, could have had no communi- 

 cation with one another. 



Some of the different shapes of needles are 

 here indicated. They are made of wood, bone, 

 or metal, and the size is limited only by that of 

 the required mesh. To charge the needle with 

 thread, a turn is taken around the tine A in 

 the eye of the needle, whence it is passed down 



FIG. 1. 



one side through notch B in the end, thence up 

 the other side round the tine, down through 

 the notch again, and so on until the needle is 

 full. In the double-eyed needle of course turns 

 are taken alternately around the two tines. 



To secure uniformity of size in the meshes, 

 sticks variously known as " mesh - sticks," 

 "spools," or " pins" have been made of dif- 

 ferent forms, round, square, or pear-shaped in 

 section, according to the taste of the maker. 

 The usual length is eight to ten inches. Once 

 around the mesh-stick makes a half-mesh. A 

 stick two inches in circumference will make a 

 mesh of four inches one inch on each side. 



The nomenclature of netting varies some- 

 what with localities. In England, to make a 

 net is to " breed," " bread," or " breathe " it. 

 " Over " is used instead of wide, in speaking of 



a net. " Accrues," " false meshes," or " quar- 

 terings" are meshes added to a row for the 

 purpose of widening (Fig. 7). "Stole" or 

 stolen meshes are taken up in order to narrow 

 (Fig. 8). " Dead netting " is plain work with- 

 out either accrue or stole. In this country 

 these terms are unknown. The parts of a 

 seine are the head, foot, wings (end sections), 

 and "bag" (central section). A net is so 

 many feet " deep." Short ropes at the wings 

 of the seines are brails. 



The knot that forms the intersection of the 

 meshes is the same in all cases. It is known, 



FIG. 2. 



however, by various names, as " weaver's 

 knot," "fisherman's knot " or " bend," " beck- 

 et- hitch," "sheet -bend," " seine - knot." A 

 shows it before tightening, and B after. It 

 may be made with two ends of line to fasten 

 them together securely, or through a " bight," 

 as the extreme end of a loop or mesh is 

 termed by seamen, The method of making 



FIG. 3. 



it through a mesh is that necessarily employed 

 in netting, and in its most easily explained 

 form is as follows: To begin a net, such as 

 is suitable for a seine or a hammock, make 

 a loop in the twine (B, Fig. 3). The size of 



