A ditch is a trench in the earth made by digging, particularly the term is used for a trench for draining wet land, or for making a fence to guard inclosures, or for preventing an enemy from approaching a town or fortress. In the latter sense it is called also a fosse or moat, and is dug round the rampart or wall between thoscarp and counterscarp. Research Ditch
In agriculture, draining is a method of improving the soil by withdrawing the water from it by means of channels that are generally covered over. The successful practice of draining in a great measure depends on a proper knowledge of the superficial strata, of their situation, relative degrees of porosity, etc. Some strata allow water to pass through them, while others more impervious force it to run or filtrate along their surfaces until it reaches more level ground below. In general where the grounds are in a great measure flat and the soils of materials which retain the excess of moisture, they require artificial means of drainage to render them capable of yielding good crops whether of' grain or grass.
The wetness of land which makes it inferior for agricultural purposes, may appear not only as surface-water but as water which flows through the lower strata, and to draw off these there are the two distinct operations of surface-draining' and under-draining. The rudest form of open drains are the deep furrows lying between high-backed ridges, and meant to carry off the surplus water after the soil is completely saturated, but in doing so they generally carry off also much of the best of the soil and of the manure which has been spread upon it. The ordinary ditch is a common form of water-course useful in certain cases, as in hill pastures. But covered drains at a depth of one metre or so are the common forms in draining agricultural lands. They are generally either stone-drains or tile-drains. Stone-drains are either formed on the plan of open culverts of various forms, or of small stones in sufficient quantity to permit a free and speedyfiltration of the water through them. The box-drain, for instance, is formed of flat stones neatly arranged in the bottom of the trench, the whole forming an open tube.
In tile-drains, tiles or pipes of burnt clay are used for forming the conduits. They possess all the qualities which are required in the formation of drains, affording a free ingress to water, while they effectually exclude vermin, earth, and other injurious substances.
Drainage tiles and pipes have been made in a great variety of forms, the earliest of which, since the introduction of thorough draining, was the horse-shoe tile, so called from its shape. These should always rest on soles, or flats of burned clay. Pipe tiles, which combine the sole and cover in one piece, have been made of various shapes, but the best form appears to be the cylinder.
An important department of draining is the draining off of the waters which are the sources of springs. Sometimes the judicious application of a few simple drains, made to communicate with the watery layers, will often dry swamps of great extent, where large sums of money, expended in forming open drains in the swamp itself, would leave it but little improved.
In the laying out of drains the first point to be determined is the place of outfall, which should always afford a free and clear outlet to the drains, and must necessarily be at the lowest point of the land to be drained. The next point to be determined is the position of the minor drains; in the laying out of which the surface of each field must be regarded as being made up of one or more planes, as the case may be, for each of which the drains should be laid out separately. Level lines are to be set out a little below the upper edge of each of these planes, and the drains must then be made to cross these lines at right angles. By this means the drains will run in the line of the greatest slope, no matter how distorted the surface of the field may be. All the minor drains should be made to discharge into mains or submains, and not directly into an open ditch or water-course. As a general rule there should be a main to receive the waters of the minor drains from every 5 acres.
The advantages of drainage are obvious. In the first place it allows the soil to be brought into a more suitable condition for the growth of plants, aiding in producing the finely-divided and porous state by which the roots and rootlets can spread themselves at will in order to obtain the needed supplies of food, air, and moisture. It also allows the sun's rays to produce their full effect on the soil and plants without being robbed of great part of it by the stagnant water. Research Draining
Drowning means death by the air being prevented entering the lungs owing to the month and nostrils being immersed in a liquid, the liquid being commonly water. Death may, therefore, occur by drowning in a small quantity of water. Thus a child may fall head downwards into a tub and be drowned, though the tub is not half full of water, sufficient to cover the mouth and nostrils being all that is necessary, and an adult overcome by a fit or by drunkenness may fall on a road with their head in a ditch or pool of water, and drown. Death is thus due to suffocation, to the stoppage of breathing, and to the entrance of water into the lungs. When death has been caused by drowning, the skin presents the appearance called goose-skin (cutis anserina), the face and surface of the body generally are usually pale, a frothy liquid is found in the lungs and air-passages, and about the lips and nostrils; water may be found in the stomach, and clenched fingers, holding substances grasped at, may serve to show that a struggle has taken place in the water, and that the body was alive at the time of immersion.
Drowning was formerly a mode of capital punishment in Europe. The last person executed by drowning in Scotland was executed in 1685. In Ireland there was an execution by drowning so lately as 1777. Research Drowning
A dyke (dike) is a ditch or trench, and also an embankment, rampart, or wall. It is specially applied to an embankment raised to oppose the incursions of the sea or of a river, the dikes of Holland being notable examples of work of this kind. These are often raised 12 metres above the high-water mark, and are wide enough at the top for a common roadway or canal, sometimes for both. Research Dyke
The foss-way was one of the four principal highways made by the Romans in England. The foss-way ran from Cornwall to Lincoln and was so named on account of having a ditch (a foss) each side of it. Research Foss-Way
Iron Age hill towns were the earliest type of town to evolve in Britain, not long before the Roman occupation. They were situated on a hill-top, protected in some parts by the steep crags, and enclosed in others by a massive bank of earth and stones bounded by a deep ditch. Iron Age peoples erected the defences and lived within them in pits roofed over with cones of poles covered with twigs, heather or ferns from the moorlands in the vicinity. Research Iron Age Hill Towns
Amy Johnson was an English aviator. She was born in 1903 at Hull, Humberside and died in 1941. She became a pilot in 1929 and in 1930 flew solo from England to Australia in a second-hand De Havilland DH 60 Gipsy Moth aircraft (christened Jason Wanderer) which her father bought for her, setting a new speed record, breaking the record held by Bert Hinkler - despite losing two days after hitting a ditch while landing at Insein which caused considerable damage to the plane - for which she won a prize of £10,000 awarded by the London Daily Mailnewspaper. During the Second World War she was a pilot with the Air Transport Auxiliary and died after bailing out over the Thamesestuary. Research Amy Johnson
Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Conde, also known as the Great Conde, was a Frech soldier. He was born in 1621 and died in 1687. In 1641 he married a niece of CardinalRichelieu. His defeat of the Spanish at Rocroi, in 1643, was followed, in 1645, by his defeat of Mercy at Nordlingen, and by his capture of Dunkirk in 1646, the year in which he inherited his father's title. During the troubles of the Fronde he at first took the side of the court; but believing himself to be ill requited by Mazarin, he put himself at the head of the faction of the Petits Maitres, and was imprisoned for a year by Mazarin in 1650. On his release he at once put himself at the head of a new Fronde, entered upon negotiations with Spain, and, his attack on Paris being indecisive, retired to the Netherlands, where he was appointed generalissimo of the Spanish armies.
In this capacity he unsuccessfully besiegedArras in 1654; but he was more fortunate at Valenciennes in 1656, and at Cambrai in 1657. In 1658 he was defeated before Dunkirk by Turenne, but was restored to his rank in France after the peace of 1659. In 1668 he accomplished the reduction of Franche Comte in three weeks; and in 1674 he defeated the Prince of Orange at Senef. His successes over Montecuculi in Alsace in 1675 closed his military career. Four years later he retired to Chantilly, near Paris.
Louis Antoine Henri de Bourbon, Duke of Enghien, was a French nobleman. He was born in 1772 at Chantilly. The son of Louis Henry Joseph Conde, duke of Bourbon, on the outbreak of the revolution he left France, travelled through various parts of Europe, and in 1792 went to Flanders to join his grandfather, the Prince of Conde, in the campaign against France. From 1796 to 1799 he commanded with distinguished merit the vanguard of Conde's army, which was disbanded at the Peace of Luneville in 1801. He then took up residence as a private citizen at Ettenheim in Baden, where he married the PrincessCharlotte de Rohan Rochefort. He was generally looked upon as the leader of the emigres, and was suspected by the Bonapartists of complicity in the attempt of Cadoudal to assassinate the first consul. An armed force was sent to seize him in Baden in violation of all territorial rights, and he was brought to Vincennes on the 20th of March, 1804. A mock trial was held the same night; and on the following morning he was shot in the ditch outside the walls. It was this event which drew from Fouche the comment since become proverbial: 'C'est plus qu'un crime, c'est une faute' (' It is worse than a crime, it is a blunder'). Research Louis de Bourbon
Offa was king of the East Saxons in 700 until he became a monk at Rome.
Offa was King of Mercia from 757 until his death in 796. He seized the throne after a civil war, and established supremacy over many lesser kings. He consolidated his position by marrying his daughters to the kings of Wessex and Northumbria, and was the first ruler to be called 'king of the English'.
Offa ruthlessly overcame strong opposition in southern England. By the end of his reign, Offa was master of all England south of the Humber; he married his daughters to the kings of Wessex and Northumbria. He had a frontierbarrier (known as Offa's Dyke) built; this continuous ditch and bank ran 149 miles along the boundary between the Mercian and Welsh kingdoms 'from sea to sea'. Offa had dealings with the emperor Charlemagne (a proposed a dynastic marriage between their children came to nothing), and he visited Rome in 792 to strengthen his links with the papacy. The English penny (silvercurrency) was introduced during Offa's reign. In the first recorded coronation in England,
Offa's son Ecgfrith was consecrated in 787 in Offa's lifetime in an attempt to secure the succession. However, Ecgfrith died childless months after Offa. Offa's success in building a strong unified kingdom caused resistance in other kingdoms. The Mercians' defeat at the hands of Egbert of Wessex at the battle of Ellendun in 825 meant that supremacy passed to Wessex. Research Offa
In Persian mythology, Rustem was a hero. he was the son of Zal, and the kings champion. Rustem always rode fearlessly into battle, conquering mortals and demons alike. The king became jealous of Rustem and set a trap for him, ordering deep ditches lined with spikes to be dug and then inviting Rustem to go hunting in the land. Rustem's faithful horse, Rakhsh refused, but Rustem encouraged him on and they both fell into a ditch and were mortally wounded. before dying
Rustem shot the king dead with his bow and arrow. Research Rustem
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Ditch
