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
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
Tethys is a satellite of Saturn. It was discovered by Giovanni Domenico Cassini in 1684. It has a nearly circular equatorialorbit at 294,660 km from the planet's centre. Its diameter is 1,060 km and its density is 1,200 kg/m3, indicating a predominantly icy composition. All parts of its surface are heavily cratered. Two outstanding topographic features are the giantOdysseuscrater, 400 km in diameter, and a trench or large valley, Ithaca Chasma, about 100 km in width and several kilometres deep. Research Tethys
Richard Chenevin Trench was a British divine and philologist. He was born in 1807 at Dublin and died in 1886. Educated at Harrow and at trinity College, Cambridge he was ordained and became curate to Samuel Wilberforce and rector of Itchenstoke before being made professor of divinity at King's College, London in 1846. In 1856 he was made dean of Westminsyer, and in 1864 archbishop of Dublin, resigning in 1884. He was famed as a poet and also as a writer. Research Richard Trench
Terminus was the Greek and Roman god of boundaries and frontiers. In Roman culture, when a boundary was fixed, an animal sacrifice was made, a trench dug, and the body and other offerings placed in the trench before a fire of pine branches was burnt in the trench and the stone emblem of Terminus erected upon the ashes. Research Terminus
Trench fever is an acuteinfectious disease characterised by fever and muscular aches and pains. It is caused by the microorganism Rickettsia quintana and is transmitted by the bite of a body louse. Research Trench Fever
The battles of the Isonzo were fought between the Austrians and the Italians, between 1915 and 1917 during the Great War. Italy declared war on Austria, on May the 23rd,1915. On the eastern front, where their main attack was made, the Italians readied the line of the Isonzo by the end of the month. The Austrians had withdrawn to their positions on the Isonzo, mostly on its eastern bank, their centre being the entrenched camp of Gorizia, but they retained important bridgeheads on its west bank.
The first struggle on the river began on June the 5th, when the Italians crossed at Pieris and drove the Austrians from the flat between the river and Monfalcone; but the assault did not develop in strength along the whole river line until June the 9th. It lasted until June the 27th, when the Italians carried Castelnuovo. Cadorna's offensive was chiefly in three directions. On the north his left attacked Tolmino and the Monte Nero region, in the middle his centre assailed the positions protecting Gorizia, and on the south his right occupied Monfalcone. For the first he had the railway to Cividale and the road from it to Caporetto, and other neighbouring points; and for the second and third he had railways all the way. His communications were good, but the terrain in front was naturally difficult, and strongly fortified with powerful artillery and heavy wire.
Early in June the Italians captured the highest peak of the Monte Nero, and on the 14th Vrata, and by the 23rd were in the Plezzo valley, but failed to make any impression on Tolmino. In the centre the heights protecting Gorizia were assailed. The town lies on the eastern bank of the Isonzo, near the angle it makes in its course opposite Salcano, one side of which reaches north to Plava, and the other and longer, south to Sagrado. In front of the town, but on the western bank, rises the height of Podgora, which the Italians had unsuccessfully endeavoured to carry with a rush at the outset.
On June the 9th the Italians got across the river at Plava, and on June the 17th captured the height known as Hill 383, and formed a bridgehead. South-west of Gorizia they crossed the Isonzo at a point a little above Sagrado, south of Gradisca, on the north-west edge of the Carso, and occupied Sagrado.
By June the 23rd the Italians had gained possession of some villages south of Sagrado-Fogiano, at the foot of the Carso, managed to cross the river above Sagrado on June the 24th, and, taking Castelnuovo on June the 27th, established a bridgehead overlooking the Carso before the weather broke.
The second battle was a renewed offensive against Gorizia. This combined frontal assaults on the positions protecting that town with converging attacks by the Italian left and right wings north and south By this time the Austrians had brought up reinforcements and increased the number of their guns. On July the 2nd the attack was general from Plava to Castelnuovo, the two bridgeheads which the Italians had won in the first battle. Next day Cadorna's centre assaulted Podgora, in front of Gorizia, and drove the Austrians from its top; but the fire from Monte Santo and other points forced the Italians to withdraw. On the same day Cadorna made some progress in the Carso from Castelnuovo in the direction of Doberdo.
On July the 5yj he advanced his trenches both in the centre towards Gorizia and on his right in the Carso, while his left gained ground in the wooded heights east of the river from Plava, but at a heavy cost of life. Fighting continued along this 25 mile. front for nearly a fortnight, with the result that the Italians slowly but surely pushed forward their lines. Between July the 18th and 20th they vigorously attacked the Austrians in the Carso, capturing many trenches and about 3,500 prisoners. The Austrians counterattacked in force on July the 22nd, but. were driven back with heavy losses. Next day the Austrians came on again, but the result, speaking generally, went in favour of the Italians, who stormed, but were unable to hold, the whole of Monte San Michele. Monte Sei Busi was taken and lost several times. The struggle in the Carso went on without intermission until the end of the first week in August. The Italian success was most marked in the Carso, and 20,000 Austrians were taken prisoners. The battle gradually died down by the middle of August.
The third battle on the river began on October the 18th, 1915, with a general bombardment by the Italians of the Austrian positions from Plava to the sea. Cadorna launched his infantry attack on the 21st, his purpose. being to obtain better positions from which Gorizia might be assailed. With his left wing he succeeded in moving some distance forward from the positions beyond Plava gained in the second battle; but he was checked at Kuk, and could not advance against Monte Santo, the dominating height in this area. Higher up, near Tolmino, which the Italians had invested during the summer, he took the greater part of the Santa Maria and Santa Lucia heights, but was unable to drive the Austrians from the rest. He again attacked the Podgora position before Gorizia, and his troops, after desperate struggles, gained ground between Monte Podgora and the neighbouring Monte Sabotino. Early in November Monte Sabotino was taken with extraordinary gallantry, but through a misunderstanding was not held. North-west of Gorizia the village of Oslavia was captured on November the 20th, and presently the Italian heavy guns were bombarding Gorizia.
In the Carso, Cadorna's right fiercely attacked the enemy trenches about Doberdo, and bitter struggles took place on the slopes of San Michele and San Martino, as well as on the north towards the Vipacco stream. The battle continued until the beginning of December, but the Austrians were again reinforced, bad weather intervened, and the Italians made no more headway.
On August the 1st, 1916, Italian artillery bombarded the Isonzo front from Sabotino, north-west of Gorizia, to the sea, and on August the 4th infantry made a feint from Monfalcone, carried some hills, and lost them. This operation, which opened the fourth battle, led to the Austrians being reinforced from higher up their line, which consequently was so much weakened. On August the 6th the Austrian positions were heavily shelled from Sabotino to San Michele, and in the afternoon the third army, under the duke of Aosta, advanced to the assault, the two main points of attack being Sabotino on the north and San Michele on the south. Within an hour Sabotino was carried; soon after the Oslavia hills, a little to the south, were taken, and before dark Podgora was practically in the hands of the Italians.
On August the 6th and 7th the Italians took San Michele. By noon on August the 8th they held the whole of the heights in front of Gorizia, as well as San Michele and the village of Boschini on the eastern side of the river. Bridges were thrown across, and the main army passed over, entering Gorizia before midday on August the 9th Cavalry marched on south of the town to the Vertoibizza, a small tributary of the Vippacco, and to the hills bounding on the east the plain on which Gorizia stands. Cadorna's main attack now centred in the Carso, and on August the 10th the advance began to the Vallone, a sort of big natural trench running north and south across it. The Doberdo plateau was taken, Cosich and other heights were captured, and the Austrians were driven east, their resistance being finally broken on August the 12th. By August the 15th the Italians at Oppacchiasella were well beyond the Vallone. Then the advance, which bad gained so much, slowed down, and there was a pause until September, when heavy fighting broke out again in this district.
During the winter of 1916-1917 both Italy and Austria prepared for an offensive, but the former got in the first blow by bombarding the Austrian front on the Isonzo from Tolmino to the Adriatic on May the 12th, 1917, British heavy guns cooperating. For two days the shelling continued with great intensity, the main front assailed reaching from a point above Plava down to Salcano, a little north of Gorizia.
There were supplementary actions higher up the river near Bodrez, about eight miles south of Tolmino, and in the Carso, but the real attack, known as the fifth battle of the Isonzo, which developed on the morning of May the 14th, was from Plava to Saleano, where the Isonzo flows through a gorge, with the heights of Kuk, Vodice, Santo, and San Gabriele on its eastern side. It was against the strong Austrian positions on these mountains that the Italians of the second army threw themselves. On May the 14th they took Zagora, a village south of Plava, and made a bridgehead there, afterwards capturing Zagomila from it. They reached one of the spurs of Monte Kuk, and got on to Monte Santo.
Next day they progressed on Kuk, gained ground on Vodice, and stormed, but were unable to hold, the top of Santo. Alarmed by this success, the Austrians counterattacked on May the 16th in great force, but without avail. The Italians moved forward again, improved their positions near Santo, and established themselves on the summit of Vodice during the following days up to May the 22nd, when the fighting virtually ceased in this district, From Bodrez the Italians withdrew on May the 18th, when the operation there had served its purpose. Research Battles of The Isonzo
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Abbreviations
Research Ditch
