THE S TOW-NET. 97 



the fish even for the purpose of manure, and there are 

 hundreds, or I may say thousands, of tons disposed of 

 every year in this manner. There is some fluctuation 

 in the quantity of sprats caught from year to year ; but 

 there is no apparent connection between the scarcity 

 or abundance of fish in any one season, and the success 

 of the fishing in the previous one. 



A net called a " trim-net " is worked on the same 

 principle in some parts of the Wash ; but it is very 

 much smaller, and the mouth is of a triangular shape, 

 three poles, the lowest of which is the longest, being 

 fastened together at the ends so as to produce that 

 form. It is .used at the entrance to some of the small 

 rivers, and catches smelts, eels, flounders, and other 

 fish which frequent brackish water. 



" Whitebait," which are, without the slightest doubt, 

 nothing but young herrings, are caught in the Thames 

 by means of a small net of much the same shape as a 

 stow-net, and worked on just the same principle. 



The only other kind of bag-net of any consequence 

 used for catching sea fish, are long nets, which I have 

 seen at the inner part of Waterford Harbour. They 

 are essentially bag-nets, fourteen feet wide, eight feet 

 deep, and fourteen fathoms long. They are fastened to 

 the stakes of old salmon-weirs, and are used for the 

 purpose of intercepting the sprats in their course for a 

 short distance up the river ; but the visits of the sprats 

 to the locality being rather uncertain, the importance 

 of these nets is not very great. 



