A buffet is properly a cupboard, sideboard, or closet used to hold china, crystal, plate, and the like. The word is also very commonly applied to the space set apart for refreshments in public places, and to a spread of food from which diners serve themselves to a selection before going to eat elsewhere, as distinct from having the food laid out on the table at which the diners sit. Research Buffet
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
From about 1760 onwards, the normal method of enclosing commons or open fields in Britain was by private Act of Parliament. The Act authorised the appointment of commissioners to survey the lands to be enclosed. A large- scale plan of the lands was prepared, to assist the commissioners to draw up an award allocating the land to individuals. These awards, with their plans, record the boundaries of the fields and the courses and widths of the roads and trackways as laid out afresh by the enclosure commissioners. Occasionally this is accompanied by a map showing the pre-enclosure picture of open-field farming, with much land remaining as commons. Research Enclosure Awards
When the Romans conquered Britain in 43 AD, they set about imposing their civilisation in the way they knew best - by providing it with towns and joining them up by roads. Every town laid out by the Romans was arranged on a chess board or grid iron plan of intersecting streets, and was usually protected by a massive square stone wall with a gate in the middle of each side. Most of these towns came into existence as fortified places; the Roman word 'castrum' or 'chester' means 'a military encampment'. Almost all the towns whose names end in this way, such as Winchester, Chichester, Dorchester and Manchester, as well as those whose name endings have been modified, such as Lancaster, Worcester and Gloucester, began their existence as Roman fortified places. The core of the city was the Forum, a group of buildings which comprised the town hall, the court of justice, a shopping centre and spacious meeting place for the people of the town and its surrounding countryside. Roman ideas in town planning were fundamental to the later development of the English town. Research Roman Towns
Andrew Ellicott was an American surveyor. He was born in 1754 at Pennsylvania and died in 1820. He surveyed and laid out the city of Washington in 1790, and was surveyor-general of the United States in 1792. In 1796 he was appointed a commissioner to determine the boundary between the United States and the Spanish possessions on the south. Research Andrew Ellicott
The Apple Tree Gang were five pioneer American golfers, who formed the St Andrew's Golf Club of Yonkers in 1888. They became known as the Apple Tree Gang when they laid out a six-hole golf course in an orchard. Research Apple Tree Gang
The Dogon are inhabitants of Mali. They depend mainly on the cultivation of grain crops such as millet for their livelihood. Traditionally they lived in inaccessible villages on steep hill-sides - exhibiting famed skill as mountaineers and climbers, and this isolation encouraged the development of their remarkably intricate cosmology and mythology and more than thirty language dialects. To the Dogon, myths and symbolism are as real as the material form of things, and every aspect of social life reflects the working of the universe.
Dogon villages, for instance, are laid out in such a way as to symbolize the world egg out of which all life is believed to originate. Each district has its own spiritual leader, or hogon; nevertheless, the knowledge of myths and symbols is not confined to a priest-caste but is open to anyone who has the patience and intelligence to learn. The Dogon houses are called a ginna and are made in the shape of a human body. Each Dogon village also has a togu na or man's shelter where the men and village elders loaf around, talk and smoke, and women are barred. Research Dogon
William Penn was an English Quaker and the founder of Pennsylvania. He was born in 1644 at London and died in 1718. The son of Admiral Penn he was educated at Oxford where he joined the new sect of Quakers, and was expelled from the university. For a few years he traveled in France and Italy, and became a court favorite in England. From this life he turned to become a minister of the Society of Friends. This step led to a break with his father, to imprisonment in the Tower of London, in Newgate Prison and to other persecutions. He was aided, however, by his friendship with the Duke of York.
William Penn wrote numerous tracts and theological works, 'No Cross, no Crown' among others. He had already sent many emigrants to America, when in 1681 Charles II gave him an extensive grant. He sailed to his new possession in 1683, laid out the city of Philadelphia and negotiated the famous treaty with the Indians under the elm tree. He returned to England in 1684, and had considerable influence at court after his friend came to the throne as James II.
He was deprived of his government in 1693, but it was restored two years later. A visit to his colony in 1699 resulted in improving the condition of affairs. The new commonwealth had from the first a more tolerant basis than its neighbors. William Penn returned to England after a few years. In the latter part of his life he became involved in difficulties and passed some time in the Fleet Prison. Research William Penn
Angkor is a city in Cambodia. It was the site of several capitals of the Khmerempire and is renowned for the temples which the Khmers built between the 9th and 12th centuries for their god-kings to live in after death. At Angkor Thom was the grandiose Bayon (temple) of Jayavarman VII; on pinnacle after pinnacle the king's features live on in the faces of the Buddha. Under this Buddhist king, Angkor Thom reached its zenith. The city, with its 13 km of moated walls and position on the shores of the vast inland lake of Tonle Sap, lay at the heart of an elaborate irrigation system which was partially laid out and controlled by the Khmer kings. For centuries the city and the great temples, with their bas-reliefs recording sacred myths and the daily lives and bloody battles of the Khmers, were lost to the jungle. After their rediscovery in the 19th century they were much restored. Research Angkor
Abbreviations
Research Buffet
