1.
Edward Chester Plow
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Edward Chester Plow, CBE DSO CD was a Canadian soldier and the 22nd Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia. Born in St. Albans, Vermont, he was educated at Lower Canada College and then entered the Royal Military College of Canada in 1921 and he was commissioned in the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery in 1925. He served in Canada and England before World War II began, during World War II, he commanded the artillery of the 1st Canadian Corps. In 1944, he was promoted to Brigadier, Royal Artillery, after the war, he was promoted to Major-General and became the commander of the Eastern Command in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In 1958, he was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia by Prime Minister John Diefenbaker and he died of lung cancer in Brockville, Ontario in 1988. Edward Chester Plow Career army officer held vice-regal post, mGen EC Plow CBE, DSO, CD. The Virtual Artillery Museum of Canada,4237 Dr. Adrian Preston & Peter Dennis Swords and Covenants Rowman And Littlefield, London. H16511 Dr. Richard Arthur Preston To Serve Canada, A History of the Royal Military College of Canada 1997 Toronto, University of Toronto Press,1969
2.
Peasant
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A peasant is a member of a traditional class of farmers, either laborers or owners of small farms, especially in the Middle Ages under feudalism, or more generally, in any pre-industrial society. In Europe, peasants were divided into three classes according to their status, slave, serf, and free tenant. Peasants either hold title to land in fee simple, or hold land by any of several forms of tenure, among them socage, quit-rent, leasehold. The implication of the term is that the peasant is uneducated, ignorant, the word peasant is also commonly used in a non-pejorative sense as a collective noun for the rural population in the poor and under-developed countries of the world. The word peasant is derived from the 15th century French word païsant, meaning one from the pays, or countryside, ultimately from the Latin pagus, Peasants typically made up the majority of the agricultural labour force in a pre-industrial society. The majority of the people in the Middle Ages were peasants, more generally, the word peasant is sometimes used to refer pejoratively to those considered to be lower class, perhaps defined by poorer education and/or a lower income. The open field system of agriculture dominated most of northern Europe during medieval times, under this system, peasants lived on a manor presided over by a lord or a bishop of the church. Peasants paid rent or labor services to the lord in exchange for their right to cultivate the land, fallowed land, pastures, forests, and wasteland were held in common. The open field system required cooperation among the peasants of the manor and it was gradually replaced by individual ownership and management of land. This process happened in a pronounced and truncated way in Eastern Europe. Lacking any catalysts for change in the 14th century, Eastern European peasants largely continued upon the original medieval path until the 18th and 19th centuries, even before emancipation in 1861, serfdom was on the wane in Russia. The proportion of serfs within the empire had decreased from 45-50 percent at the end of the eighteenth century. In Germany, peasants continued to center their lives in the well into the 19th century. They belonged to a body and helped to manage the community resources. In the East they had the status of serfs bound permanently to parcels of land, a peasant is called a Bauer in German and Bur in Low German. In most of Germany, farming was handled by tenant farmers who paid rents, Peasant leaders supervised the fields and ditches and grazing rights, maintained public order and morals, and supported a village court which handled minor offenses. Inside the family the patriarch made all the decisions, and tried to arrange marriages for his children. Much of the communal life centered on church services and holy days
3.
American and British English spelling differences
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Many of the differences between American and British English date back to a time when spelling standards had not yet developed. For instance, some spellings seen as American today were once used in Britain. But English-language spelling reform has rarely been adopted otherwise, and thus modern English orthography varies somewhat between countries and is far from phonemic in any country, in the early 18th century, English spelling was inconsistent. These differences became noticeable after the publishing of influential dictionaries, todays British English spellings mostly follow Johnsons A Dictionary of the English Language, while many American English spellings follow Websters An American Dictionary of the English Language. Webster was a proponent of English spelling reform for reasons both philological and nationalistic, in A Companion to the American Revolution, John Algeo notes, it is often assumed that characteristically American spellings were invented by Noah Webster. He was very influential in popularizing certain spellings in America, rather he chose already existing options such as center, color and check for the simplicity, analogy or etymology. William Shakespeares first folios, for example, used spellings like center and color as much as centre, Webster did attempt to introduce some reformed spellings, as did the Simplified Spelling Board in the early 20th century, but most were not adopted. In Britain, the influence of those who preferred the Norman spellings of words proved to be decisive, later spelling adjustments in the United Kingdom had little effect on todays American spellings and vice versa. For the most part, the systems of most Commonwealth countries. Australian spelling has also strayed slightly from British spelling, with some American spellings incorporated as standard, New Zealand spelling is almost identical to British spelling, except in the word fiord. There is also an increasing use of macrons in words that originated in Māori, most words ending in an unstressed -our in British English end in -or in American English. Wherever the vowel is unreduced in pronunciation, e. g. contour, velour, paramour and troubadour the spelling is the same everywhere, most words of this kind came from Latin, where the ending was spelled -or. They were first adopted into English from early Old French, after the Norman conquest of England, the ending became -our to match the Old French spelling. The -our ending was not only used in new English borrowings, however, -or was still sometimes found, and the first three folios of Shakespeares plays used both spellings before they were standardised to -our in the Fourth Folio of 1685. After the Renaissance, new borrowings from Latin were taken up with their original -or ending, Websters 1828 dictionary had only -or and is given much of the credit for the adoption of this form in the United States. Johnson, unlike Webster, was not an advocate of spelling reform and he preferred French over Latin spellings because, as he put it, the French generally supplied us. In Jeffersons original draft it is spelled honour, Honor and honour were equally frequent in Britain until the 17th century, honor still is, in the UK, the usual spelling as a persons name and appears in Honor Oak, a district of London. In derivatives and inflected forms of the words, British usage depends on the nature of the suffix used
4.
Tool
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A tool is any physical item that can be used to achieve a goal, especially if the item is not consumed in the process. Tool use by humans dates back millions of years, and other animals are known to employ simple tools. Tools that are used in fields or activities may have different designations such as instrument, utensil, implement, machine, device. The set of tools needed to achieve a goal is equipment, the knowledge of constructing, obtaining and using tools is technology. Anthropologists believe that the use of tools was an important step in the evolution of mankind, because tools are used extensively by both humans and wild chimpanzees, it is widely assumed that the first routine use of tools took place prior to the divergence between the two species. These early tools, however, were made of perishable materials such as sticks. Stone artifacts only date back to about 2.5 million years ago, however, a 2010 study suggests the hominin species Australopithecus afarensis ate meat by carving animal carcasses with stone implements. This finding pushes back the earliest known use of tools among hominins to about 3.4 million years ago. Finds of actual tools date back at least 2.6 million years in Ethiopia, one of the earliest distinguishable stone tool forms is the hand axe. Up until recently, weapons found in digs were the tools of “early man” that were studied. Now, more tools are recognized as culturally and historically relevant, as well as hunting, other activities required tools such as preparing food, “…nutting, leatherworking, grain harvesting and woodworking…” Included in this group are “flake stone tools. “Man the hunter” as the catalyst for Hominin change has been questioned, based on marks on the bones at archaeological sites, it is now more evident that pre-humans were scavenging off of other predators carcasses rather than killing their own food. Mechanical devices experienced an expansion in their use in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome with the systematic employment of new energy sources. Their use expanded through the Dark Ages with the addition of windmills, machine tools occasioned a surge in producing new tools in the industrial revolution. Advocates of nanotechnology expect a similar surge as tools become microscopic in size, one can classify tools according to their basic functions, Cutting and edge tools, such as the knife, scythe or sickle, are wedge-shaped implements that produce a shearing force along a narrow face. Ideally, the edge of the needs to be harder than the material being cut or else the blade will become dulled with repeated use. But even resilient tools will require periodic sharpening, which is the process of removing deformation wear from the edge, other examples of cutting tools include gouges and drill bits. Moving tools move large and tiny items, many are levers which give the user a mechanical advantage
5.
Tillage
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Tillage is the agricultural preparation of soil by mechanical agitation of various types, such as digging, stirring, and overturning. Examples of human-powered tilling methods using hand tools include shovelling, picking, mattock work, hoeing, examples of draft-animal-powered or mechanized work include ploughing, rototilling, rolling with cultipackers or other rollers, harrowing, and cultivating with cultivator shanks. There is a continuum, however. Any type of gardening or farming, but especially larger-scale commercial types, Tillage is often classified into two types, primary and secondary. There is no boundary between them so much as a loose distinction between tillage that is deeper and more thorough and tillage that is shallower and sometimes more selective of location. Harrowing and rototilling often combine primary and secondary tillage into one operation, Tillage can also mean the land that is tilled. The word cultivation has several senses that overlap substantially with those of tillage, in a general context, both can refer to agriculture. Within agriculture, both can refer to any kind of soil agitation, additionally, cultivation or cultivating may refer to an even narrower sense of shallow, selective secondary tillage of row crop fields that kills weeds while sparing the crop plants. Reduced tillage leaves between 15 and 30% residue cover on the soil or 500 to 1000 pounds per acre of small grain residue during the critical erosion period and this may involve the use of a chisel plow, field cultivators, or other implements. See the general comments below to see how they can affect the amount of residue, intensive tillage leaves less than 15% crop residue cover or less than 500 pounds per acre of small grain residue. Intensive tillage often involves multiple operations with such as a mold board, disk. Then a finisher with a harrow, rolling basket, and cutter can be used to prepare the seed bed. Conservation tillage leaves at least 30% of crop residue on the soil surface and this slows water movement, which reduces the amount of soil erosion. Conservation tillage also benefits farmers by reducing consumption and soil compaction. By reducing the number of times the farmer travels over the field, farmers realize significant savings in fuel, in most years since 1997, conservation tillage was used in US cropland more than intensive or reduced tillage. However, conservation tillage delays warming of the due to the reduction of dark earth exposure to the warmth of the spring sun. No-till - Never use a plow, disk, etc. ever again, strip-Till - Narrow strips are tilled where seeds will be planted, leaving the soil in between the rows untilled. Mulch-till Rotational Tillage - Tilling the soil every two years or less often, ridge-Till Zone tillage Zone tillage is a form of modified deep tillage in which only narrow strips are tilled, leaving soil in between the rows untilled
6.
Soil
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Soil is a mixture of minerals, organic matter, gases, liquids, and countless organisms that together support life on Earth. Soil is called the Skin of the Earth and interfaces with the lithosphere, the hydrosphere, the atmosphere, the term pedolith, used commonly to refer to the soil, literally translates ground stone. Soil consists of a phase of minerals and organic matter, as well as a porous phase that holds gases. Accordingly, soils are often treated as a system of solids, liquids. Soil is a product of the influence of climate, relief, organisms, Soil continually undergoes development by way of numerous physical, chemical and biological processes, which include weathering with associated erosion. Given its complexity and strong internal connectedness soil has been considered as an ecosystem by soil ecologists. Most soils have a dry bulk density between 1.1 and 1.6 g/cm3, while the particle density is much higher. Little of the soil of planet Earth is older than the Pleistocene and none is older than the Cenozoic, Soil science has two basic branches of study, edaphology and pedology. Edaphology is concerned with the influence of soils on living things, pedology is focused on the formation, description, and classification of soils in their natural environment. In engineering terms, soil is referred to as regolith, or loose material that lies above the solid geology. Soil is commonly referred to as earth or dirt, technically, as soil resources serve as a basis for food security, the international community advocates its sustainable and responsible use through different types of soil governance. Soil is a component of the Earths ecosystem. The worlds ecosystems are impacted in far-reaching ways by the carried out in the soil, from ozone depletion and global warming, to rainforest destruction. Following the atmosphere, the soil is the next largest carbon reservoir on Earth, as the planet warms, soils will add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere due to its increased biological activity at higher temperatures. Thus, soil carbon losses likely have a positive feedback response to global warming. Since soil has a range of available niches and habitats. A gram of soil can contain billions of organisms, belonging to thousands of species, mostly microbial, Soil has a mean prokaryotic density of roughly 108 organisms per gram, whereas the ocean has no more than 107 procaryotic organisms per milliliter of seawater. Since plant roots need oxygen, ventilation is an important characteristic of soil and this ventilation can be accomplished via networks of interconnected soil pores, which also absorb and hold rainwater making it readily available for plant uptake
7.
Sowing
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Sowing is the process of planting seeds. An area or object that has had seeds planted will be described as being sowed, among the major field crops, oats, wheat, and rye are sown, grasses and legumes are seeded and maize and soybeans are planted. In sowing, little if any soil is placed over the seeds, more precisely, seeds can be generally sown into the soil by maintaining a planting depth of about 2-3 times the size of the seed. This method is better, as more light may fall on the seedlings as they come out. Symmetrical grid pattern – using the pattern described in The Garden of Cyrus. Hand sowing or is the process of casting handfuls of seed over prepared ground, usually, a drag or harrow is employed to incorporate the seed into the soil. Though labor-intensive for any but small areas, this method is used in some situations. Practice is required to sow evenly and at the desired rate, a hand seeder can be used for sowing, though it is less of a help than it is for the smaller seeds of grasses and legumes. Hand sowing may be combined with pre-sowing in seed trays and this allows the plants to come to strength indoors during cold periods. In agriculture, most seed is now using a seed drill. The drill also places the seed at a distance below the soil. The standard design uses a fluted feed metering system, which is volumetric in nature, rows are typically about 10–30 cm apart, depending on the crop species and growing conditions. Several row opener types are used depending on type and local tradition. Grain drills are most often drawn by tractors, but can also be pulled by horses, pickup trucks are sometimes used, since little draft is required. A seed rate of about 100 kg of seed per hectare is typical, though rates vary depending on crop species, soil conditions. Excessive rates can cause the crop to lodge, while too thin a rate will result in poor utilisation of the land, competition with weeds and a reduction in the yield. The seed is left uncovered at the surface of the soil before germinating and therefore exposed to the prevailing climate. Before sowing, certain seeds first require a treatment prior to the sowing process and this treatment may be seed scarification, stratification, seed soaking or seed cleaning with cold water
8.
Working animal
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A working animal is an animal, usually domesticated, that is kept by humans and trained to perform tasks. They may be members of the family, such as guide dogs or other assistance dogs, or they may be animals trained to provide tractive force. The latter types of animals are called animals or beasts of burden. Most working animals are either service animals or draft animals and they may also be used for milking or herding, jobs that require human training to encourage the animal to cooperate. Some, at the end of their lives, may also be used for meat or other products such as leather. The history of working animals may predate agriculture, with used by our hunter-gatherer ancestors. Around the world, millions of animals work in relationship with their owners, domesticated species are often bred to be suitable for different uses and conditions, especially horses and working dogs. Working animals are raised on farms, though some are still captured from the wild, such as dolphins. People have found uses for a variety of abilities found in animals. The strength of horses, elephants and oxen is used in pulling carts, the keen sense of smell of dogs is used to search for drugs and explosives as well helping to find game while hunting and to search for missing or trapped people. Several animals including camels, donkeys, horses and dogs are used for transport, either riding or to pull wagons, other animals including dogs and monkeys provide assistance to blind or disabled people. Conversely, not all domesticated animals are working animals, for example, while cats may perform work catching mice, it is an instinctive behavior, not one that can be trained by human intervention. Other domesticated animals, such as sheep, or rabbits, may have uses for meat, hides and wool. Finally, small pets such as most birds or hamsters are generally incapable of performing work other than that of providing simple companionship. Some animals are used due to physical strength in tasks such as ploughing or logging. Such animals are grouped as a draught or draft animal, others may be used as pack animals, for animal-powered transport, the movement of people and goods. People ride some animals directly as mounts, Alternatively, one or more animals in harness may be used to pull vehicles and they include equines such as horses, ponies, donkeys, and mules, elephants, yaks, and camels. Dromedary camels in arid areas of Australia, North Africa and the Middle East, on occasion, reindeer, though usually driven, may be ridden
9.
Tractor
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A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery used in agriculture or construction. Most commonly, the term is used to describe a farm vehicle that provides the power and traction to mechanize agricultural tasks, especially tillage, but nowadays a great variety of tasks. Agricultural implements may be towed behind or mounted on the tractor, the word tractor was taken from Latin, being the agent noun of trahere to pull. The first recorded use of the meaning an engine or vehicle for pulling wagons or ploughs occurred in 1901. In Canada and the USA, the word may refer to the road tractor portion of a tractor trailer truck. The first powered farm implements in the early 19th century were portable engines – steam engines on wheels that could be used to drive farm machinery by way of a flexible belt. Richard Trevithick designed the first semi-portable stationary steam engine for use, known as a barn engine in 1812. The truly portable engine was invented in 1839 by William Tuxford of Boston, a large flywheel was mounted on the crankshaft, and a stout leather belt was used to transfer the drive to the equipment being driven. In the 1850s, John Fowler used a Clayton & Shuttleworth portable engine to drive apparatus in the first public demonstrations of the application of cable haulage to cultivation. In parallel with the portable engine development, many engineers attempted to make them self-propelled – the fore-runners of the traction engine. In most cases this was achieved by fitting a sprocket on the end of the crankshaft and these experiments met with mixed success. The alteration was made by fitting a long driving chain between the crankshaft and the rear axle. The first half of the 1860s was a period of great experimentation but by the end of the decade the standard form of the engine had evolved. It was widely adopted for agricultural use, the first tractors were steam-powered plowing engines. They were used in pairs, placed on side of a field to haul a plow back. In Britain Manns and Garrett developed steam tractors for direct ploughing, in the United States, where soil conditions permitted, steam tractors were used to direct-haul plows. Steam-powered agricultural engines remained in use well into the 20th century until reliable internal combustion engines had been developed, in 1892, John Froelich invented and built the first gasoline/petrol-powered tractor in Clayton County, Iowa, USA. A Van Duzen single-cylinder gasoline engine was mounted on a Robinson engine chassis, after receiving a patent, Froelich started up the Waterloo Gasoline Engine Company and invested all of his assets
10.
Recorded history
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Recorded history or written history is a historical narrative based on a written record or other documented communication. Recorded history can be contrasted with other narratives of the past, for broader world history, recorded history begins with the accounts of the ancient world around the 4th millennium BC, and coincides with the invention of writing. Examples of written texts, however, can be found dating as far back as 1750 BCE in Ancient Mesopotamia, for some geographic regions or cultures, written history is limited to a relatively recent period in human history because of the limited use of written records. Because of these limits, recorded history in different contexts may refer to different periods of time depending on the historical topic. The question of the nature, and even the possibility, of a method for interpreting recorded history is raised in the philosophy of history as a question of epistemology. Prehistory traditionally refers to the span of time before recorded history, prehistory refers to the past in an area where no written records exist, or where the writing of a culture is not understood. Protohistory refers to the period between prehistory and history, after the advent of literacy in a society but before the writings of the first historians. Protohistory may also refer to the period during which a culture or civilization has not yet developed writing, more complete writing systems were preceded by proto-writing. Early examples are the Jiahu symbols, Vinča signs, early Indus script, earliest recorded history, which varies greatly in quality and reliability, deals with Pharaohs and their reigns, made by ancient Egyptians. Much of the earliest recorded history was re-discovered relatively recently due to archaeological dig sites findings, since these initial accounts, a number of different traditions have developed in different parts of the world in how to handle the writing and production of historical accounts. In China, the earliest history was recorded in oracle bone script which was deciphered, the Zuo Zhuan, attributed to Zuo Qiuming in the 5th century BCE, is the earliest written of narrative history in the world and covers the period from 722 to 468 BCE. The Classic of History is one of the Five Classics of Chinese classic texts and it is traditionally attributed to Confucius. Zhan Guo Ce was a renowned ancient Chinese historical compilation of materials on the Warring States period compiled between the 3rd and 1st centuries BCE. Sima Qian was the first in China to lay the groundwork for professional historical writing and his written work was the Shiji, a monumental lifelong achievement in literature. His work influenced every subsequent author of history in China, including the prestigious Ban family of the Eastern Han Dynasty era, Herodotus of Halicarnassus has generally been acclaimed as the father of history composing his The Histories written from 450s to the 420s BCE. However, his contemporary Thucydides is credited with having first approached history with a historical method in his work the History of the Peloponnesian War. Thucydides, unlike Herodotus, regarded history as being the product of the choices and actions of human beings, saint Augustine was influential in Christian and Western thought at the beginning of the medieval period. Through the Medieval and Renaissance periods, history was studied through a sacred or religious perspective
11.
Harrow (tool)
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In agriculture, a harrow is an implement for breaking up and smoothing out the surface of the soil. In this way it is distinct in its effect from the plough, harrowing is often carried out on fields to follow the rough finish left by plowing operations. The purpose of this harrowing is generally to break up clods and to provide a finer finish, coarser harrowing may also be used to remove weeds and to cover seed after sowing. Harrows differ from cultivators in that they disturb the whole surface of the soil, such as to prepare a seedbed, there are four general types of harrows, disc harrows, tine harrows, chain harrows, and chain-disk harrows. Harrows were originally drawn by animals, such as horses, mules, or oxen. In modern practice they are almost always tractor-mounted implements, either trailed after the tractor by a drawbar or mounted on the three-point hitch, a modern development of the traditional harrow is the rotary power harrow, often just called a power harrow. In cooler climates the most common types are the disc harrow, the chain harrow, the tine harrow or spike harrow and the spring tine harrow. Chain harrows are used for lighter work such as levelling the tilth or covering seed, while disc harrows are typically used for heavy work. In addition, there are types of power harrow, in which the cultivators are power-driven from the tractor rather than depending on its forward motion. Tine harrows are used to refine seed-bed condition before planting, to remove small weeds in growing crops, the fourth is a chain disk harrow. Disk attached to chains are pulled at an angle over the ground and these harrows move rapidly across the surface. The chain and disk rotate to stay clean while breaking up the top surface to about 1 inch deep, a smooth seedbed is prepared for planting with one pass. All four harrow types can be used in one pass to prepare soil for seeding and it is also common to use any combination of two harrows for a variety of tilling processes. Where harrowing provides a fine tilth, or the soil is very light so that it might easily be wind-blown. Harrows may be of several types and weights, depending on their purpose, giant scalloped-edged discs operate in a set, or frame, that is often weighted with concrete or steel blocks to improve penetration of the cutting edges. This sort of cultivation is followed by broadcast fertilisation and seeding. A drag is a heavy harrow, a rotary power harrow, or simply power harrow, has multiple sets of vertical tines. Each set of tines is rotated on an axis and tills the soil horizontally
12.
Horse
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The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus. It is an ungulate mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature, Eohippus, into the large, humans began to domesticate horses around 4000 BC, and their domestication is believed to have been widespread by 3000 BC. Horses in the subspecies caballus are domesticated, although some domesticated populations live in the wild as feral horses. There is an extensive, specialized vocabulary used to describe equine-related concepts, covering everything from anatomy to life stages, size, colors, markings, breeds, locomotion, and behavior. Horses anatomy enables them to use of speed to escape predators and they have a well-developed sense of balance. Related to this need to flee from predators in the wild is an unusual trait, female horses, called mares, carry their young for approximately 11 months, and a young horse, called a foal, can stand and run shortly following birth. Most domesticated horses begin training under saddle or in harness between the ages of two and four and they reach full adult development by age five, and have an average lifespan of between 25 and 30 years. There are more than 300 breeds of horse in the world today, horses were historically used in warfare, from which a wide variety of riding and driving techniques developed, using many different styles of equipment and methods of control. Many products are derived from horses, including meat, milk, hide, hair, bone, humans provide domesticated horses with food, water and shelter, as well as attention from specialists such as veterinarians and farriers. Specific terms and specialized language are used to describe equine anatomy, different life stages, colors, depending on breed, management and environment, the modern domestic horse has a life expectancy of 25 to 30 years. Uncommonly, a few animals live into their 40s and, occasionally, the oldest verifiable record was Old Billy, a 19th-century horse that lived to the age of 62. In modern times, Sugar Puff, who had listed in Guinness World Records as the worlds oldest living pony. The exception is in endurance riding, where the age to compete is based on the animals actual calendar age. The following terminology is used to describe horses of various ages, Colt, a common terminology error is to call any young horse a colt, when the term actually only refers to young male horses. Filly, A female horse under the age of four, foal, A horse of either sex less than one year old. A nursing foal is sometimes called a suckling and a foal that has been weaned is called a weanling, most domesticated foals are weaned at five to seven months of age, although foals can be weaned at four months with no adverse physical effects. Gelding, A castrated male horse of any age, mare, A female horse four years old and older
13.
Draft horse
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Draft horses and draft crossbreds are versatile breeds used today for a multitude of purposes, including farming, draft horse showing, logging, recreation, and other uses. They are also used for crossbreeding, especially to light riding breeds such as the Thoroughbred. While most draft horses are used for driving, they can be ridden, Draft horses are recognizable by their tall stature and extremely muscular build. In general, they tend to have an upright shoulder, producing more upright movement. They tend to have broad, short backs with powerful hindquarters, additionally, the draft breeds usually have heavy bone, and a good deal of feathering on their lower legs. Many have a profile or Roman nose. Draft breeds range from approximately 16 to 19 hands high and from 1,400 to 2,000 lb, Draft horses crossbred on light riding horses adds height and weight to the ensuing offspring, and may increase the power and scope of the animals movement. The largest horse in recorded history was probably a Shire named Mammoth and he stood 21.2 hands high, and his peak weight was estimated at 1,524 kilograms. At over 19 hands, a Shire gelding named Goliath was the Guinness Book of World Records record holder for the worlds tallest horse until his death in 2001, humans domesticated horses and needed them to perform a variety of duties. One type of horse-powered work was the hauling of heavy loads, plowing fields, a heavy, calm, patient, well-muscled animal was desired for this work. Conversely, a light, more energetic horse was needed for riding, thus, to the extent possible, a certain amount of selective breeding was used to develop different types of horse for different types of work. The reality was that the high-spirited, quick-moving Destrier was closer to the size, build, there also were working farm horses of more phlegmatic temperaments used for pulling military wagons or performing ordinary farm work also provided bloodlines of the modern draft horse. Records indicate that even medieval drafts were not as large as those today, of the modern draft breeds, the Percheron probably has the closest ties to the medieval war horse. By the 19th century, horses weighing more than 1,600 pounds that also moved at a quick pace were in demand. Even in the 20th century, draft horses were used for practical work, in the late 19th century and early 20th century, thousands of draft horses were imported from Western Europe into the United States. Percherons came from France, Belgians from Belgium, Shires from England, many American draft registries were founded in the late 19th century. The Percheron, with 40,000 broodmares registered as of 1915, was America’s most numerous draft breed at the turn of the 20th century. A breed developed exclusively in the U. S. was the American Cream Draft, many were sold to slaughter for horsemeat and a number of breeds went into significant decline
14.
Mule
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A mule is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse. Horses and donkeys are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes, of the two F1 hybrids between these two species, a mule is easier to obtain than a hinny, which is the offspring of a female donkey and a male horse. The size of a mule and work to which it is put depend largely on the breeding of the female parent. Mules can be lightweight, medium weight, or when produced from draft horse mares, Mules are more patient, hardy and long-lived than horses, and are less obstinate and more intelligent than donkeys. Mules also tend to be more independent than most domesticated equines other than the donkey, the median weight range for a mule is between about 370 and 460 kg. While a few mules can carry live weight up to 160 kg, in general, a mule can be packed with dead weight of up to 20% of its body weight, or approximately 90 kg. Although it depends on the animal, it has been reported that mules trained by the Army of Pakistan can carry up to 72 kilograms. The average equine in general can carry up to approximately 30% of its weight in live weight. A female mule that has estrus cycles and thus, in theory, could carry a fetus, is called a molly or Molly mule, pregnancy is rare, but can occasionally occur naturally as well as through embryo transfer. A male mule is called a horse mule, though often called a john mule. A young male mule is called a colt, and a young female is called a mule filly. With its short thick head, long ears, thin limbs, small narrow hooves, and short mane, in height and body, shape of neck and rump, uniformity of coat, and teeth, it appears horse-like. The mule comes in all sizes, shapes and conformations, there are mules that resemble huge draft horses, sturdy quarter horses, fine-boned racing horses, shaggy ponies and more. The mule is an example of hybrid vigor, charles Darwin wrote, The mule always appears to me a most surprising animal. The mule inherits from its sire the traits of intelligence, sure-footedness, toughness, endurance, disposition, from its dam it inherits speed, conformation, and agility. Mules exhibit a higher intelligence than their parent species. This is also believed to be the result of hybrid vigor, similar to how mules acquire greater height and their hooves are harder than horses, and they show a natural resistance to disease and insects. Many North American farmers with clay soil found mules superior as plow animals, a mule does not sound exactly like a donkey or a horse
15.
Industrialized
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As industrial workers incomes rise, markets for consumer goods and services of all kinds tend to expand and provide a further stimulus to industrial investment and economic growth. Later commentators have called this the First Industrial Revolution, the invention of the assembly line gave this phase a boost. Coal mines, steelworks, and textile factories replaced homes as the place of work, by the end of the 20th century, East Asia had become one of the most recently industrialised regions of the world. The BRICS states are undergoing the process of industrialisation, there is considerable literature on the factors facilitating industrial modernisation and enterprise development. The concentration of labour into factories has increased urbanisation and the size of settlements, to serve, workers have to either leave their families or bring them along in order to work in the towns and cities where these industries are found. The family structure changes with industrialisation, the sociologist Talcott Parsons noted that in pre-industrial societies there is an extended family structure spanning many generations who probably remained in the same location for generations. In industrialised societies the nuclear family, consisting of parents and their growing children. Families and children reaching adulthood are more mobile and tend to relocate to where jobs exist, extended family bonds become more tenuous. Currently the international development community endorses development policies like water purification or primary education and Co-Operation amongst third world communities, the relationships among economic growth, employment, and poverty reduction are complex. Higher productivity is argued to be leading to lower employment, division of labour Newly industrialised country Idea of Progress Chandler Jr. Alfred D. The Visible Hand, The Management Revolution in American Business, belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Hewitt, T. Johnson, H. and Wield, D. industrialisation and Development, Oxford University Press, hobsbawm, Eric, The Age of Revolution. Kemp, Tom Historical Patterns of Industrialisation, Longman, London, ISBN 0-582-09547-6 Kiely, R industrialisation and Development, A comparative analysis, UCL Press, London. The Unbound Prometheus, Technological Change and Industrial Development in Western Europe from 1750 to the Present, Cambridge, New York, Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge. Pomeranz, Ken The Great Divergence, China, Europe and the Making of the Modern World Economy by Tilly, industrialization as an Historical Process, European History Online, Mainz, Institute of European History,2010, retrieved,29 February 2011
16.
Steam engine
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A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. Steam engines are combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be used. The ideal thermodynamic cycle used to analyze this process is called the Rankine cycle, in the cycle, water is heated and transforms into steam within a boiler operating at a high pressure. When expanded through pistons or turbines, mechanical work is done, the reduced-pressure steam is then exhausted to the atmosphere, or condensed and pumped back into the boiler. Specialized devices such as hammers and steam pile drivers are dependent on the steam pressure supplied from a separate boiler. The use of boiling water to mechanical motion goes back over 2000 years. The Spanish inventor Jerónimo de Ayanz y Beaumont obtained the first patent for an engine in 1606. In 1698 Thomas Savery patented a steam pump that used steam in direct contact with the water being pumped, Saverys steam pump used condensing steam to create a vacuum and draw water into a chamber, and then applied pressurized steam to further pump the water. Thomas Newcomens atmospheric engine was the first commercial steam engine using a piston. In 1781 James Watt patented an engine that produced continuous rotary motion. Watts ten-horsepower engines enabled a range of manufacturing machinery to be powered. The engines could be sited anywhere that water and coal or wood fuel could be obtained, by 1883, engines that could provide 10,000 hp had become feasible. The stationary steam engine was a key component of the Industrial Revolution, the aeolipile described by Hero of Alexandria in the 1st century AD is considered to be the first recorded steam engine. Torque was produced by steam jets exiting the turbine, in the Spanish Empire, the great inventor Jerónimo de Ayanz y Beaumont obtained a patent for the first steam engine in history in 1603. Thomas Savery, in 1698, patented the first practical, atmospheric pressure and it had no piston or moving parts, only taps. It was an engine, a kind of thermic syphon, in which steam was admitted to an empty container. The vacuum thus created was used to water from the sump at the bottom of the mine
17.
Traction engine
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A traction engine is a self-propelled steam engine used to move heavy loads on roads, plough ground or to provide power at a chosen location. The name derives from the Latin tractus, meaning drawn, since the function of any traction engine is to draw a load behind it. They are sometimes called road locomotives to distinguish them from railway locomotives – that is, Traction engines tend to be large, robust and powerful, but heavy, slow, and difficult to manoeuvre. Nevertheless, they revolutionized agriculture and road haulage at a time when the alternative prime mover was the draught horse. They became popular in industrialised countries from around 1850, when the first self-propelled portable steam engines for use were developed. All types of engines have now been superseded, in commercial use. However, several examples have been preserved worldwide, many in working order. Steam fairs are held throughout the year in the United Kingdom, and in other countries, however, where soil conditions permitted, direct hauling of implements was preferred – in America, this led to the divergent development of the steam tractor. Limits of technical knowledge and manufacturing technology meant that practicable road vehicles, powered by steam, the alteration was made by fitting a long driving chain between the crankshaft and the rear axle. The first half of the 1860s was a period of great experimentation but by the end of the decade the standard form of the engine had evolved. Until the quality of roads improved there was demand for faster vehicles and engines were geared accordingly to cope with their use on rough roads. British companies such as Manns and Garrett developed potentially viable direct ploughing engines, however conditions were against them. These market conditions arose in the wake of the First World War when there was a glut of surplus equipment available as a result of British Government policy. Large numbers of Fowler ploughing engines had been constructed in order to increase the land under tillage during the war, road steam disappeared through restrictions and charges that drove up their operating costs. Through 1921, steam tractors had demonstrated clear economic advantages over horse power for heavy hauling, the tax was payable by all road hauliers in proportion to the axle load and was particularly restrictive on steam propulsion, which was heavier than its petrol equivalent. This was at a time of unemployment in the mining industry. The tax was devastating to the businesses of heavy hauliers and showmen, the last new UK-built traction engines were constructed during the 1930s, although many continued in commercial use for many years while there remained experienced enginemen available to drive them. From the 1950s, the movement started to build up as enthusiasts realised that traction engines were in danger of dying out
18.
Steam tractor
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This article refers to the steam-powered agricultural tractor, for other types of steam tractor, see, Traction engine A steam tractor is a vehicle powered by a steam engine which is used for pulling. In North America, the steam tractor usually refers to a type of agricultural tractor powered by a steam engine, used extensively in the late 19th. Although known as steam tractors, these engines are generally just smaller versions of the road locomotive. This article concentrates on the steam-powered agricultural vehicles intended for the direct-pulling of ploughs, owing to differences in soil conditions, the development of steam-powered agricultural machines differed considerably on either side of the Atlantic. In Great Britain, a number of engine builders attempted to produce a design of agricultural engine that could pull a plough directly. However, the heavier and wetter soils found in Britain meant that these designs were not successful — being less economical to use than the team of horses they were intended to replace and these engines were also known as steam tractors. Instead, farmers resorted to cable-hauled ploughing using ploughing engines, a distinctive example of a British-designed steam tractor is the Garrett Suffolk Punch, a 1917 design intended to compete directly with internal combustion-powered alternatives. The first steam tractors that were designed specifically for agricultural uses were portable engines built on skids or on wheels and transported to the work area using horses. Later models used the power of the engine itself to power a drive train to move the machine and were first known as traction drive engines which eventually was shortened to tractor. These drive mechanisms were one of three types, chain, shaft, and open pinion, the open pinion became the most popular design due to its strength. Later improvements included power steering, differentials, compounded engines, the steam engine was gradually phased out by the mid-1920s as the less expensive, lighter, and faster-starting internal combustion tractors fully emerged after World War I. Oats were an item to be threshed, but wheat. On a threshing day, all the neighbors would gather at that days farmstead to complete a job in one day through cooperation. The women and older girls were in charge of cooking the noon meal, the children had various jobs based upon their age and sex. Steam traction engines were too expensive for a single farmer to purchase. In a threshing ring, multiple farmers pooled their resources to purchase a steam engine and they also chose one person among them to go to a steam school, to learn how to run the engine properly. There were also threshing contractors, who owned their own engine and thresher, the immense pulling power of steam tractors allowed them to be used for ploughing as well. Certain steam tractors were better suited for ploughing than others, with the large Minneapolis Threshing machine Co, Case, Reeves & Co and Advance-Rumely engines being prime examples
19.
Internal combustion engine
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An internal combustion engine is a heat engine where the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal combustion engine the expansion of the high-temperature and high-pressure gases produced by combustion applies direct force to some component of the engine, the force is applied typically to pistons, turbine blades, rotor or a nozzle. This force moves the component over a distance, transforming chemical energy into mechanical energy. The first commercially successful internal combustion engine was created by Étienne Lenoir around 1859, firearms are also a form of internal combustion engine. Working fluids can be air, hot water, pressurized water or even liquid sodium, ICEs are usually powered by energy-dense fuels such as gasoline or diesel, liquids derived from fossil fuels. While there are many applications, most ICEs are used in mobile applications and are the dominant power supply for vehicles such as cars, aircraft. Typically an ICE is fed with fossil fuels like natural gas or petroleum products such as gasoline, there is a growing usage of renewable fuels like biodiesel for compression ignition engines and bioethanol or methanol for spark ignition engines. Hydrogen is sometimes used, and can be made from fossil fuels or renewable energy. Various scientists and engineers contributed to the development of internal combustion engines, in 1791, John Barber developed a turbine. In 1794 Thomas Mead patented a gas engine, also in 1794 Robert Street patented an internal combustion engine, which was also the first to use liquid fuel, and built an engine around that time. In 1798, John Stevens built the first American internal combustion engine, in 1807, Swiss engineer François Isaac de Rivaz built an internal combustion engine ignited by electric spark. In 1823, Samuel Brown patented the first internal combustion engine to be applied industrially, in 1860, Belgian Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir produced a gas-fired internal combustion engine. In 1864, Nikolaus Otto patented the first atmospheric gas engine, in 1872, American George Brayton invented the first commercial liquid-fuelled internal combustion engine. In 1876, Nikolaus Otto, working with Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach, patented the compressed charge, in 1879, Karl Benz patented a reliable two-stroke gas engine. In 1892, Rudolf Diesel developed the first compressed charge, compression ignition engine, in 1926, Robert Goddard launched the first liquid-fueled rocket. In 1939, the Heinkel He 178 became the worlds first jet aircraft, at one time, the word engine meant any piece of machinery — a sense that persists in expressions such as siege engine. A motor is any machine that produces mechanical power, traditionally, electric motors are not referred to as Engines, however, combustion engines are often referred to as motors. In boating an internal combustion engine that is installed in the hull is referred to as an engine, reciprocating piston engines are by far the most common power source for land and water vehicles, including automobiles, motorcycles, ships and to a lesser extent, locomotives
20.
National Ploughing Championships
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The National Ploughing Championships or is an agricultural show in Ireland. The event is one of the largest outdoor events in the world with over 1500 exhibitors and it takes place each year in September. The first inter-county ploughing contest was held between County Wexford and County Kildare on 16 February 1931 in a 26-acre field at Coursetown in Athy, since then, the National Ploughing Championships has expanded to over 800 acres with 1,400 exhibitors. In 2014 the event attracted a record 279,500 visitors,281,000 in 2015 and 283,000 in 2016 and they are both an integral part of the story of Rural Ireland’s development. Inspirational founder, JJ Bergin, was NPA’s first Managing Director and he was widely acknowledged as a man of tremendous foresight. In 1952 he represented Ireland at the first meeting of the World Ploughing Organisation and was appointed their vice president, the first World Contest was hosted by Canada in 1953, and the second was in Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland in 1954. That was also the first European venue for the ‘Worlds’, when 10 countries competed. Also in 1954, the first ploughing competition for women was introduced, called the Farmerette class, the winner was known as Queen of the Plough. In 1955 the National Ploughing Championships expanded into a 2-day event, JJ Bergin continued to manage NPA until his passing in 1958. A national bread baking competition was introduced by NPA in co-operation with ESB in 1958 that continues to this day, in 1959 he represented the NPA at the 7th World Ploughing Contest to Armoy, County Antrim, Northern Ireland and that was the first time they held there. He was officially introduced to President of the French Republic, Charles De Gaulle, john was a big man over 6 ft. but he proudly displayed that photo on his wall, dwarfed as he was by the 6’ 5” tall President De Gaulle. Another big event was when the first ever Ploughing Championships were filmed by RTÉ National TV at Killarney in 1961 and it was filmed on 8 and 9 November 1961 and broadcast in the first ever episode of the farming programme ‘On the Land’, on 1 January 1962. The film, featuring both local organiser, Mrs Grosvenor, and Sean, was remarkable in that it was broadcast the day after Teilifís Éireann first went on air and that was a special day for Sean, as County Wicklow was his adopted county. The Irish Times reported how the tractor on which Charlie Keegan won World Ploughing Championships in 1964 had now been restored and it was a green Deutz D40L tractor that was magnificently restored to its original condition by his grandson, Michael, devoting 1,000 hours to restoration work. At the National Championships 1964, a new Youth class was introduced for Youths 21-28, in 1965 Esso became an NPA sponsor and introduced the Esso Supreme Trophy which is still presented to the Senior Conventional Champion annually. In 1966 a new competition was introduced to cater for Students from the Agricultural Colleges, in 1969 the Irish Countrywomens Association were invited to give demonstrations in cookery, crafts. This also combined with introduction of the Country Markets as the ploughing was a venue to sell produce. Sean held the position of MD until his death in 1972
21.
Conduit current collection
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Conduit current collection is a system of electric current collection used by electric tramways, where the power supply was carried in a conduit under the roadway. The power rails are contained in a conduit midway between and below the two rails on which the cars operate, in much the same fashion as the cable for cable cars. The conduit contains two T section steel rails of opposite polarity facing each other, about 12 inches apart. Power reached the car by means of an attachment, called a plough, the plough had two metal shoes attached to springs that pushed sideways against the power rails. The current was carried by a cable from the plough through the platform to the cars controller. The running rails are not part of the electrical circuit, in the United States, the cars were sometimes popularly but incorrectly called trolleys but did not typically draw power through a trolley pole from an overhead wire as trolley cars do. Conduit current collection was one of the first ways of supplying power to trams but it proved to be more expensive, complicated. In Denver, Colorado, the second electric street railway in 1885 pioneered conduit current collection. Difficulties with the conduit and the led to the replacement of conduit cars. Trolley lines from Brooklyn and Queens also entered Manhattan under wire, the primary reason for the initial adoption of conduit systems was for aesthetic reasons as an alternative to overhead wiring that was often objected to as being unsightly. The expense of creating conduit lines in New York was reduced where it was possible to convert the cable vaults from discontinued cable car lines. The huge cost of building new conduits gave New York the distinction of having one of the last horsecar lines in the U. S. not closing until 1917, in some old photographs, two slots may be seen between the rails. In New York City, sometimes one slot was used for a cable line, occasionally, two competitive lines shared a common track and had independent slots for the ploughs of the respective cars. In New York City, the Queensboro Bridge between Manhattan and Queens had tracks installed on the lanes with conduits for Manhattan cars in addition to overhead wires. The conduit allowed them to run to Queens Plaza terminus without need for removing the plough, in later years the conduit was removed and only trolley wire remained. In the centre of Brussels some tram lines were fitted with conduits, the system was tried in the seaside resort of Blackpool, UK, but was soon abandoned as sand and saltwater entered the conduit and caused breakdowns and there was a problem with voltage drop. Some sections of track still had the conduit slot visible until the tramway was refurbished in 2012, washington, D. C. had a large network of conduit lines, to avoid wires. Some lines used overhead wires when they approached rural or suburban areas, the last such line ran to Cabin John, Maryland
22.
Germanic languages
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It is the third most spoken Indo-European subdivision, behind Italic and Indo-Iranian, and ahead of Balto-Slavic languages. Limburgish varieties have roughly 1.3 million speakers along the Dutch–Belgian–German border, the main North Germanic languages are Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, and Faroese, which have a combined total of about 20 million speakers. The East Germanic branch included Gothic, Burgundian, and Vandalic, the last to die off was Crimean Gothic, spoken in the late 18th century in some isolated areas of Crimea. The total number of Germanic languages throughout history is unknown, as some of them—especially East Germanic languages—disappeared during or after the Migration Period. Proto-Germanic, along all of its descendants, is characterized by a number of unique linguistic features. Early varieties of Germanic enter history with the Germanic tribes moving south from Scandinavia in the 2nd century BC, to settle in the area of todays northern Germany, furthermore, it is the de facto language of the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. It is also a language in Nicaragua and Malaysia. German is a language of Austria, Belgium, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Switzerland and has regional status in Italy, Poland, Namibia. German also continues to be spoken as a minority language by immigrant communities in North America, South America, Central America, Mexico, a German dialect, Pennsylvania Dutch, is still present amongst Anabaptist populations in Pennsylvania in the United States. Dutch is a language of Aruba, Belgium, Curaçao. The Netherlands also colonised Indonesia, but Dutch was scrapped as a language after Indonesian independence. Dutch was until 1925 an official language in South Africa, but evolved in and was replaced by Afrikaans, Afrikaans is one of the 11 official languages in South Africa and is a lingua franca of Namibia. It is used in other Southern African nations as well, low German is a collection of sometimes very diverse dialects spoken in the northeast of the Netherlands and northern Germany. Scots is spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster, frisian is spoken among half a million people who live on the southern fringes of the North Sea in the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark. Luxembourgish is mainly spoken in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, though it extends into small parts of Belgium, France. Limburgish varieties are spoken in the Limburg and Rhineland regions, along the Dutch–Belgian–German border, Swedish is also one of the two official languages in Finland, along with Finnish, and the only official language in the Åland Islands. Danish is also spoken natively by the Danish minority in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, Norwegian is the official language of Norway. Icelandic is the language of Iceland, and is spoken by a significant minority in the Faroe Islands
23.
Old English
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Old English or Anglo-Saxon is the earliest historical form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers probably in the mid 5th century, Old English developed from a set of Anglo-Frisian or North Sea Germanic dialects originally spoken by Germanic tribes traditionally known as the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. As the Anglo-Saxons became dominant in England, their language replaced the languages of Roman Britain, Common Brittonic, a Celtic language, Old English had four main dialects, associated with particular Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Mercian, Northumbrian, Kentish and West Saxon. It was West Saxon that formed the basis for the standard of the later Old English period, although the dominant forms of Middle. The speech of eastern and northern parts of England was subject to strong Old Norse influence due to Scandinavian rule, Old English is one of the West Germanic languages, and its closest relatives are Old Frisian and Old Saxon. Like other old Germanic languages, it is different from Modern English. Old English grammar is similar to that of modern German, nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and verbs have many inflectional endings and forms. The oldest Old English inscriptions were using a runic system. Old English was not static, and its usage covered a period of 700 years, from the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain in the 5th century to the late 11th century, some time after the Norman invasion. While indicating that the establishment of dates is a process, Albert Baugh dates Old English from 450 to 1150, a period of full inflections. Perhaps around 85 per cent of Old English words are no longer in use, Old English is a West Germanic language, developing out of Ingvaeonic dialects from the 5th century. It came to be spoken over most of the territory of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms which became the Kingdom of England and this included most of present-day England, as well as part of what is now southeastern Scotland, which for several centuries belonged to the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria. Other parts of the island – Wales and most of Scotland – continued to use Celtic languages, Norse was also widely spoken in the parts of England which fell under Danish law. Anglo-Saxon literacy developed after Christianisation in the late 7th century, the oldest surviving text of Old English literature is Cædmons Hymn, composed between 658 and 680. There is a corpus of runic inscriptions from the 5th to 7th centuries. The Old English Latin alphabet was introduced around the 9th century, with the unification of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms by Alfred the Great in the later 9th century, the language of government and literature became standardised around the West Saxon dialect. In Old English, typical of the development of literature, poetry arose before prose, a later literary standard, dating from the later 10th century, arose under the influence of Bishop Æthelwold of Winchester, and was followed by such writers as the prolific Ælfric of Eynsham. This form of the language is known as the Winchester standard and it is considered to represent the classical form of Old English
24.
Old High German
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Old High German is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 700 to 1050. Coherent written texts do not appear until the half of the 8th century. There are, however, a number of Elder Futhark inscriptions dating to the 6th century, as well as single words, during the migration period, the Elbe Germanic tribes settled in what became Alamannia, the Duchy of Bavaria and the Kingdom of Lombardy. Old High German comprises the dialects of these groups which underwent the Second Sound Shift during the 6th Century, namely all of Elbe Germanic, in the south, the Langobards, who had settled in Northern Italy, maintained their dialect until their conquest by Charlemagne in 774. This area did not become German-speaking again until the German eastward expansion of the early 12th century, though there was some attempt at conquest, Old High German literacy is a product of the monasteries, notably at St. Gallen, Reichenau and Fulda. Its origins lie in the establishment of the German church by Boniface in the mid 8th century, einhard tells how Charlemagne himself ordered that the epic lays should be collected for posterity. It was the neglect or religious zeal of later generations that led to the loss of these records, thus, it was Charlemagnes weak successor, Louis the Pious, who destroyed his fathers collection of epic poetry on account of its pagan content. Hrabanus Maurus, a student of Alcuins and abbot at Fulda from 822, was an important advocate of the cultivation of German literacy, among his students were Walafrid Strabo and Otfrid of Weissenburg. Notker Labeo towards the end of the Old High German period was among the greatest stylists in the language, the main difference between Old High German and the West Germanic dialects from which it developed is that it underwent the High German consonant shift. This is generally dated approximately to the late 5th and early 6th centuries—hence dating its start to around 500, the result of this sound change is that the consonantal system of German remains different from all other West Germanic languages, including English and Low German. Grammatically, however, Old High German remained very similar to Old English, Old Dutch, by the mid 11th century the many different vowels found in unstressed syllables had all been reduced to /ə/. Since these vowels were part of the endings in the nouns and verbs. For these reasons,1050 is seen as the start of the Middle High German period, for this reason the dialects may be termed monastery dialects. It declined after the conquest of the Lombard Kingdom by the Franks in 774 and it is classified as Upper German on the basis of evidence of the Second Sound Shift. The continued existence of a West Frankish dialect in the Western, claims that this might have been the language of the Carolingian court or that it is attested in the Ludwigslied, whose presence in a French manuscript suggests bilingualism, are controversial. The charts show the vowel and consonant systems of the East Franconian dialect in the 9th century and this is the dialect of the monastery of Fulda, and specifically of the Old High German Tatian. Old High German had five long vowels and six phonemic short vowels. Both occurred in stressed and unstressed syllables, notes, All back vowels likely had front-vowel allophones as a result of Umlaut
25.
Old Norse
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Old Norse was a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during about the 9th to 13th centuries. These dates, however, are not absolute, since written Old Norse is found well into the 15th century, Old Norse was divided into three dialects, Old West Norse, Old East Norse and Old Gutnish. Old West and East Norse formed a continuum, with no clear geographical boundary between them. For example, Old East Norse traits were found in eastern Norway, although Old Norwegian is classified as Old West Norse, most speakers spoke Old East Norse in what is present day Denmark and Sweden. Old Gutnish, the more obscure dialectal branch, is included in the Old East Norse dialect due to geographical associations. It developed its own features and shared in changes to both other branches. The 12th century Icelandic Gray Goose Laws state that Swedes, Norwegians, Icelanders and Danes spoke the same language, another term used, used especially commonly with reference to West Norse, was norrœnt mál. In some instances the term Old Norse refers specifically to Old West Norse, the Old East Norse dialect was spoken in Denmark, Sweden, settlements in Kievan Rus, eastern England, and Danish settlements in Normandy. The Old Gutnish dialect was spoken in Gotland and in settlements in the East. In the 11th century, Old Norse was the most widely spoken European language, in Kievan Rus, it survived the longest in Veliky Novgorod, probably lasting into the 13th century there. Norwegian is descended from Old West Norse, but over the centuries it has heavily influenced by East Norse. Old Norse also had an influence on English dialects and Lowland Scots and it also influenced the development of the Norman language, and through it and to a smaller extent, that of modern French. Various other languages, which are not closely related, have heavily influenced by Norse, particularly the Norman dialects, Scottish Gaelic. The current Finnish and Estonian words for Sweden are Ruotsi and Rootsi, of the modern languages, Icelandic is the closest to Old Norse. Written modern Icelandic derives from the Old Norse phonemic writing system, contemporary Icelandic-speakers can read Old Norse, which varies slightly in spelling as well as semantics and word order. However, pronunciation, particularly of the phonemes, has changed at least as much as in the other North Germanic languages. Faroese retains many similarities but is influenced by Danish, Norwegian, although Swedish, Danish and the Norwegian languages have diverged the most, they still retain asymmetric mutual intelligibility. Speakers of modern Swedish, Norwegian and Danish can mostly understand each other without studying their neighboring languages, the languages are also sufficiently similar in writing that they can mostly be understood across borders
26.
Swedish language
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Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken natively by more than 9 million people predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, where it has equal legal standing with Finnish. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish, along with the other North Germanic languages, Swedish is a descendant of Old Norse, the common language of the Germanic peoples living in Scandinavia during the Viking Era. It is currently the largest of the North Germanic languages by number of speakers, Standard Swedish, spoken by most Swedes, is the national language that evolved from the Central Swedish dialects in the 19th century and was well established by the beginning of the 20th century. While distinct regional varieties descended from the rural dialects still exist. The standard word order is, as in most Germanic languages, V2, Swedish morphology is similar to English, that is, words have comparatively few inflections. There are two genders, no cases, and a distinction between plural and singular. Older analyses posit the cases nominative and genitive and there are remains of distinct accusative and dative forms as well. Adjectives are compared as in English, and are inflected according to gender, number. The definiteness of nouns is marked primarily through suffixes, complemented with separate definite and indefinite articles, the prosody features both stress and in most dialects tonal qualities. The language has a large vowel inventory. Swedish is also notable for the voiceless velar fricative, a highly variable consonant phoneme. Swedish is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic branch of the Germanic languages, by many general criteria of mutual intelligibility, the Continental Scandinavian languages could very well be considered dialects of a common Scandinavian language. In the 8th century, the common Germanic language of Scandinavia, Proto-Norse, had some changes. This language began to undergo new changes that did not spread to all of Scandinavia, the dialects of Old East Norse that were spoken in Sweden are called Runic Swedish while the dialects of Denmark are referred to as Runic Danish. The dialects are described as runic because the body of text appears in the runic alphabet. Unlike Proto-Norse, which was written with the Elder Futhark alphabet, Old Norse was written with the Younger Futhark alphabet, from 1200 onwards, the dialects in Denmark began to diverge from those of Sweden. An early change that separated Runic Danish from the dialects of Old East Norse was the change of the diphthong æi to the monophthong é. This is reflected in runic inscriptions where the older read stain, there was also a change of au as in dauðr into a long open ø as in døðr dead
27.
Gothic language
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Gothic is an extinct Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths. It is known primarily from the Codex Argenteus, a copy of a fourth-century Bible translation. As a Germanic language, Gothic is a part of the Indo-European language family and it is the earliest Germanic language that is attested in any sizable texts, but it lacks any modern descendants. The oldest documents in Gothic date back to the fourth century, the language was in decline by the mid-sixth century, partly because of the military defeat of the Goths at the hands of the Franks, the elimination of the Goths in Italy, and geographic isolation. Gothic-seeming terms found in manuscripts may or may not belong to the same language. The existence of such early attested texts makes it a language of considerable interest in comparative linguistics, only a few documents in Gothic survive, not enough for completely reconstructing the language. That is especially true considering that most Gothic corpora are translations or glosses of other languages and he commissioned a translation of the Greek Bible into the Gothic language, of which roughly three-quarters of the New Testament and some fragments of the Old Testament have survived. It contains a part of the four Gospels. Since it is a translation from Greek, the language of the Codex Argenteus is replete with borrowed Greek words, the syntax in particular is often copied directly from the Greek. Codex Ambrosianus and the Codex Taurinensis, Five parts, totaling 193 leaves It contains scattered passages from the New Testament, of the Old Testament, the text likely had been somewhat modified by copyists. Codex Gissensis, One leaf, fragments of Luke 23–24 was found in Egypt in 1907 and was destroyed by damage in 1945. Several names in an Indian inscription were thought to be possibly Gothic by Krause, busbecqs material also contains many puzzles and enigmas and is difficult to interpret in the light of comparative Germanic linguistics. Reports of the discovery of parts of Ulfilas Bible have not been substantiated. Heinrich May in 1968 claimed to have found in England 12 leaves of a palimpsest containing parts of the Gospel of Matthew, only fragments of the Gothic translation of the Bible have been preserved. The translation was apparently done in the Balkans region by people in contact with Greek Christian culture. The Gothic Bible apparently was used by the Visigoths in Iberia until about 700 AD, and perhaps for a time in Italy, the Balkans, in exterminating Arianism, many texts in Gothic were probably expunged and overwritten as palimpsests or collected and burned. Very few secondary sources make reference to the Gothic language after about 800, some writers even referred to Slavic-speaking people as Goths. However, it is clear from Ulfilas translation that despite some puzzles the language belongs with the Germanic language group, the relationship between the language of the Crimean Goths and Ulfilass Gothic is less clear
28.
Ard (plough)
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The ard, ard plough, or scratch plough is a simple light plough without a mouldboard. It is symmetrical on either side of its line of draft and is fitted with a share that traces a shallow furrow. It began to be replaced in most of Europe by the carruca turnplough from the 7th century. In its simplest form it resembles a hoe, consisting of a draft-pole pierced with a vertical, wooden, spiked head which is dragged through the soil by draft animals. The ard-head is at one end a stilt for steering and at the other a share which gouges the surface ground. More sophisticated models have a pole, where the section attached to the head is called the draft-beam. Some have a cross-bar for handles or two separate stilts for handles, the share comes in two basic forms, a socket share slipped over the nose of the ard-head, and the tang share fitted into a groove where it is held with a clamp on the wooden head. Additionally, a slender protruding chisel can be fitted over the top of the mainshare, rather than cutting and turning the soil to produce ridged furrows, the ard breaks up a narrow strip of soil and cuts a shallow furrow, leaving intervening strips undisturbed. The ard is not suited for clearing new land, so grass, cross-ploughing is often necessary to break the soil up better, where the soil is tilled twice at right angles to the original direction. This usually results in square or diamond-shaped fields and is effective at clearing annual weeds, the ards shallow furrows are ideal for most cereals, and if the seed is sown broadcast, the ard can be used to cover the seed in rows. In fact, the ard may have invented in the Near East to cover seed rather than till. That would explain why in Mesopotamia seed drills were used together with ards, ards may be drawn by oxen, water buffalo, donkeys, camels, or other animals. Ards come in a number of varieties, the two were in early times used in conjunction with each other. Third is the seed drill ard, used specifically in Mesopotamia, the bow ard is the weaker, narrower, and probably earlier of the two. It is used for tillage, normally with a tang share, in dry. It is restricted mainly to the Mediterranean, Ethiopia, Iran and it had a short portion of the body which was first made to slide on the furrow bottom and gradually developed into a horizontal body. The body ard dominates in Portugal, western Spain, the Balkans, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, the bow ard favored the development of a long horizontal sole body sliding on the ground. Their use in Ancient Greek agriculture was described by Hesiod, later variations of the sole ard come in two types, the triangular and quadrangular ards
29.
Italic languages
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The Italic languages are a subfamily of the Indo-European language family, originally spoken by Italic peoples. They include Latin and its descendants as well as a number of languages of the Italian Peninsula, including Umbrian, Oscan, Faliscan. With over 800 million native speakers, the Italic languages constitute the second most widely spoken branch of the Indo-European family, in the past, various definitions of Italic have prevailed. This article uses the classification presented by the Linguist List, Italic includes the Latin subgroup as well as the ancient Italic languages, venetic, as revealed by its inscriptions, shared some similarities with the Italic languages and is sometimes classified as Italic. However, since it shares similarities with other Western Indo-European branches. In the extreme view, Italic did not exist, but the different groups descended directly from Indo-European and this view stems in part from the difficulty in identifying a common Italic homeland in prehistory. Moreover, there are similarities between groups, although how these similarities are to be interpreted is one of the major debatable issues in the historical linguistics of Indo-European. The linguist Calvert Watkins went so far as to suggest, among ten major groups and these he considered dialectical divisions within Proto-Indo-European which go back to a period long before the speakers arrived in their historical areas of attestation. The main debate concerning the origin of the Italic languages is the same as that which preoccupied Greek studies for the last half of the 20th century, the Indo-Europeanists for Greek had hypothesized that Greek originated outside Greece and was brought in by invaders. The issue was settled in favour of the origin of Greek being that of a language which had developed from all of these elements and then also taken its recognisable form all within Greece. A proto-Italic homeland outside Italy is just as elusive as the home of the hypothetical Greek-speaking invaders, no early form of Italic is available to match Mycenaean Greek. The Italic languages are first attested in writing from Umbrian and Faliscan inscriptions dating to the 7th century BC, the alphabets used are based on the Old Italic alphabet, which is itself based on the Greek alphabet. The Italic alphabets themselves show minor influence from the Etruscan and somewhat more from the Ancient Greek alphabet, the intermediate phases between Italic and Indo-European are still in deficit, with no guarantee that they ever will be found. The question of whether Italic originated outside Italy or developed by assimilation of Indo-European and other elements within Italy, approximately on or within its current range there, remains. Silvestri says. Common Italic. is certainly not to be seen as a language that can largely be reconstructed. Bakkum defines Proto-Italic as a stage without an independent development of its own, but extending over late PIE. Meisers dates of 4000 BC to 1800 BC he describes as as good a guess as anyones, the Roman conquests eventually spread it throughout the peninsula and beyond in the Roman Empire. It is unknown whether the language spoken by the Sicels in Sicily was Italic or not, from Vulgar Latin the Romance languages emerged
30.
Raetic
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Rhaetian /ˈriːʃən/ or Rhaetic /ˈriːtᵻk/ is an ancient language spoken in the ancient region of Rhaetia in the Eastern Alps in pre-Roman and Roman times. It is documented by a number of short inscriptions in two variants of the Etruscan alphabet. Its linguistic categorization is not clearly established, and it presents a mixture of what appear to be Etruscan, Indo-European. The ancient Rhaetic language is not the same as one of the modern Romance languages of the same Alpine region, known as Rhaeto-Romance, but both are sometimes referred to as Rhaetian. The ancient Roman sources mention the Rhaetic people as being reputedly of Etruscan origin, in his Natural History, Pliny wrote about Alpine peoples, adjoining these are the Rhaeti and Vindelici. All are divided into a number of states, the Rhaeti are believed to be people of Tuscan race driven out by the Gauls, their leader was named Rhaetus. Plinys comment on a leader named Rhaetus is typical of mythologized origins of ancient peoples, the name of the Venetic goddess Reitia has commonly been discerned in the Rhaetic finds, but the two names do not seem to be linked. Many inscriptions are known, but most of them are short and fairly repetitive. Rhaetic became extinct by the 3rd century AD, with its speakers eventually adopting Vulgar Latin in the south and Germanic in the north, Rhaeti Rhaetic alphabet Aegean languages Etruscan language Etruscan civilization Tyrsenian languages Camunic language Zavaroni, Adolfo, Rhaetic inscriptions, Tripod
31.
Pliny the Elder
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In the latter number will be my uncle, by virtue of his own and of your compositions. Pliny is referring to the fact that Tacitus relied on his uncles now missing work on the History of the German Wars. The wind caused by the sixth and largest pyroclastic surge of the eruption would not allow his ship to leave the shore, and Pliny probably died during this event. Plinys dates are pinned to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD79 and a statement of his nephew that he died in his 56th year, Pliny was the son of an equestrian, Gaius Plinius Celer, and his wife, Marcella. Neither the younger nor the elder Pliny mention the names and their ultimate source is a fragmentary inscription found in a field in Verona and recorded by the 16th century Augustinian monk Onofrio Panvinio at Verona. The reading of the inscription depends on the reconstruction, but in all cases the names come through, whether he was an augur and whether she was named Grania Marcella are less certain. Jean Hardouin presents a statement from a source that he claims was ancient, that Pliny was from Verona. Hardouin also cites the conterraneity of Catullus, additional efforts to connect Celer and Marcella with other gentes are highly speculative. Hardouin is the scholar to use his unknown source. He kept statues of his ancestors there, a statue of Pliny on the facade of the Duomo of Como celebrates him as a native son. He had a sister, Plinia, who married into the Caecilii and was the mother of his nephew, Pliny the Younger, whose letters describe his work and study regimen in detail. In one of his letters to Tacitus, Pliny the Younger details how his uncles breakfasts would be light and simple following the customs of our forefathers. This shows that Pliny the Younger wanted it to be conveyed that Pliny the Elder was a good Roman and this statement would have pleased Tacitus. Two inscriptions identifying the hometown of Pliny the Younger as Como take precedence over the Verona theory, one commemorates the youngers career as imperial magistrate and details his considerable charitable and municipal expenses on behalf of the people of Como. Another identifies his father Lucius village as Fecchio near Como and it is likely therefore that Plinia was a local girl and Pliny the Elder, her brother, was from Como. Gaius was a member of the Plinii gens and he did not take his fathers cognomen, Celer, but assumed his own, Secundus. As his adopted son took the same cognomen, Pliny founded a branch, no earlier instances of the Plinii are known. In 59 BC, only about 82 years before Plinys birth, Julius Caesar founded Novum Comum as a colonia to secure the region against the Alpine tribes, whom he had been unable to defeat
32.
Natural History (Pliny)
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The Natural History is an early encyclopedia in Latin by Pliny the Elder, a Roman author and naval commander who died in 79 AD. It is one of the largest single works to have survived from the Roman Empire to the modern day, the works subject area is thus not limited to what is today understood by natural history, Pliny himself defines his scope as the natural world, or life. The work is divided into 37 books, organised into ten volumes, the Natural History became a model for later encyclopedias and scholarly works as a result of its breadth of subject matter, its referencing of original authors, and its index. The work is dedicated to the emperor Titus, son of Plinys close friend and it is the only work by Pliny to have survived and the last that he published. He began it in 77, and had not made a revision at the time of his death during the AD79 eruption of Vesuvius. Plinys Natural History was written alongside other substantial works, Pliny combined his scholarly activities with a busy career as an imperial administrator for the emperor Vespasian. Pliny claims to be the only Roman ever to have such a work, in his prayer for the blessing of the universal mother, Hail to thee, Nature. And do thou deign to show thy favour unto me, who, alone of all the citizens of Rome, have, in thy every department, the Natural History is encyclopaedic in scope, but its format is unlike a modern encyclopaedia. However, it does have structure, Pliny uses Aristotles division of nature to recreate the world in literary form. The work is unified but varied, My subject is the world of nature, or in other words, life, he tells Titus. Nature for Pliny was divine, a concept inspired by the Stoic philosophy which underlies much of his thought. But the deity in question was a goddess whose main purpose was to serve the human race, nature, that is life is human life in a natural landscape. After an initial survey of cosmology and geography, Pliny starts his treatment of animals with the human race and this teleological view of nature was common in antiquity and is crucial to the understanding of the Natural History. The components of nature are not just described in and for themselves, Pliny devotes a number of the books to plants, with a focus on their medicinal value, the books on minerals include descriptions of their uses in architecture, sculpture, painting and jewellery. Plinys premise is distinct from modern ecological theories, reflecting the sentiment of his time. Pliny repeated Aristotles maxim that Africa was always producing something new, natures variety and versatility were claimed to be infinite, When I have observed nature she has always induced me to deem no statement about her incredible. This led Pliny to recount rumours of strange peoples on the edges of the world and these monstrous races – the Cynocephali or Dog-Heads, the Sciapodae, whose single foot could act as a sunshade, the mouthless Astomi, who lived on scents – were not strictly new. They had been mentioned by the Greek historian Herodotus in the 5th century BC, Pliny had gone to investigate the strange cloud – shaped like an umbrella pine, according to his nephew – rising from the mountain
33.
Armenian language
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The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenians. Like Hellenic Greek, it has its own branch in the language tree. It is the language of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. It has historically been spoken throughout the Armenian Highlands and today is spoken in the Armenian diaspora. Armenian has its own script, the Armenian alphabet, introduced in 405 AD by Mesrop Mashtots. Armenian is an independent branch of the Indo-European languages and it is of interest to linguists for its distinctive phonological developments within that family. Armenian exhibits more satemization than centumization, although it is not classified as belonging to either of these subgroups, Armenia was a monolingual country by the 2nd century BC at the latest. Its language has a literary history, with a 5th-century Bible translation as its oldest surviving text. Its vocabulary has been influenced by Western Middle Iranian languages, particularly Parthian, and to an extent by Greek, Persian. There are two standardized modern literary forms, Eastern Armenian and Western Armenian, with which most contemporary dialects are mutually intelligible and he is also credited by some with the creation of the Caucasian Albanian alphabet. In The Anabasis, Xenophon describes many aspects of Armenian village life and he relates that the Armenian people spoke a language that to his ear sounded like the language of the Persians. W. M. However, unlike shared innovations, the retention of archaisms is not considered conclusive evidence of a period of common isolated development. Some of the terms he gives admittedly have an Akkadian or Sumerian provenance, loan words from Iranian languages, along with the other ancient accounts such as that of Xenophon above, initially led linguists to erroneously classify Armenian as an Iranian language. Scholars such as Paul de Lagarde and F. Müller believed that the similarities between the two meant that Iranian and Armenian were the same language. The distinctness of Armenian was recognized when philologist Heinrich Hübschmann used the method to distinguish two layers of Iranian loans from the older Armenian vocabulary. Meillets hypothesis became popular in the wake of his Esquisse, eric P. Hamp supports the Graeco-Armenian thesis, anticipating even a time when we should speak of Helleno-Armenian. Nevertheless, as Fortson comments, by the time we reach our earliest Armenian records in the 5th century AD, graeco--Aryan is a hypothetical clade within the Indo-European family, ancestral to the Greek language, the Armenian language, and the Indo-Iranian languages. Graeco-Aryan unity would have divided into Proto-Greek and Proto-Indo-Iranian by the mid-third millennium BC
34.
Welsh language
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Welsh is a member of the Brittonic branch of the Celtic languages. It is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, historically it has also been known in English as the British tongue, Cambrian, Cambric and Cymric. The United Kingdom Census 2011 counted 3.1 million residents of Wales, 27% of whom had been born outside Wales, and 73% of whom reported having no Welsh language skills. Of residents of Wales aged three and over, 19% reported being able to speak Welsh, and 77% of these were able to speak, read and this can be compared with the 2001 Census, in which 20. 8% of the population reported being able to speak Welsh. 787,854 of residents in Wales aged three and over had one or more skills in Welsh, in surveys carried out between 2004 and 2006, 57% of Welsh speakers described themselves as fluent in the written language. An estimated 110,000 to 150,000 people speak Welsh in England, Welsh emerged in the 6th century from Common Brittonic, the common ancestor of Welsh, Breton, Cornish and the extinct language known as Cumbric. The Middle Welsh period is considered to have lasted from then until the 14th century, when the Modern Welsh period began, the name Welsh originated as an exonym given to its speakers by the Anglo-Saxons, meaning foreign speech. The native term for the language is Cymraeg, and for the name of the country of Wales it is Cymru, Welsh evolved from Common Brittonic, the Celtic language spoken by the ancient Celtic Britons. Classified as Insular Celtic, the British language probably arrived in Britain during the Bronze Age or Iron Age and was spoken throughout the island south of the Firth of Forth. During the Early Middle Ages the British language began to fragment due to increased dialect differentiation, evolving into Welsh and it is not clear when Welsh became distinct. Kenneth H. Jackson suggested that the evolution in syllabic structure and sound pattern was complete by around 550, Jackson, however, believed that the two varieties were already distinct by that time. The earliest Welsh poetry – that attributed to the Cynfeirdd or Early Poets – is generally considered to date to the Primitive Welsh period. However, much of this poetry was composed in the Hen Ogledd, raising further questions about the dating of the material. An 8th century inscription in Tywyn shows the language already dropping inflections in the declension of nouns, the next main period, somewhat better attested, is Old Welsh, poetry from both Wales and Scotland has been preserved in this form of the language. Both the works of Aneirin and the Book of Taliesin were in this era, Middle Welsh is the label attached to the Welsh of the 12th to 14th centuries, of which much more remains than for any earlier period. This is the language of all surviving early manuscripts of the Mabinogion. It is also the language of the existing Welsh law manuscripts, Middle Welsh is reasonably intelligible, albeit with some work, to a modern-day Welsh speaker. The famous cleric Gerald of Wales tells, in his Descriptio Cambriae, during one of the Kings many raids in the 12th century, Henry asked an old man of Pencader, Carmarthenshire whether the Welsh people could resist his army
35.
Three-point hitch
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The three-point hitch is a widely used type of hitch for attaching ploughs and other implements to an agricultural or industrial tractor. The three points resemble either a triangle, or the letter A. Three-point attachment is the simplest, a three-point hitch attaches the implement to the tractor so that the orientation of the implement is fixed with respect to the tractor and the arm position of the hitch. The tractor carries some or all of the weight of the implement, the other main mechanism for attaching a load is through a drawbar, a single point, pivoting attachment where the implement or trailer is not in a fixed position with respect to the tractor. The primary benefit of the three-point hitch system is to transfer the weight and this gives the tractor more usable traction than it would otherwise have, given the same power, weight, and fuel consumption. At 2,500 pounds, the 9N could plow more than 12 acres in a normal day pulling two 14-inch plows, outperforming the tractive performance of the heavier and more expensive Farmall F-30 model, the hitchs utility and simplicity have since made it an industry standard. The three-point hitch is made up of components working together. These include the hydraulic system, attaching points, the lifting arms. Three-point hitches are composed of three movable arms, the two lower arms—the hitch lifting arms—are controlled by the hydraulic system, and provide lifting, lowering, and even tilting to the arms. The upper center arm—called the top link—is movable, but is not powered by the tractors hydraulic system. Each arm has an attachment device to connect implements to the hitch, each hitch has attachment holes for attaching implements, and the implement has posts that fit through the holes. The implement is secured by placing a pin on the ends of the posts, the hitch lifting arms are powered by the tractors own hydraulic system. The hydraulic system is controlled by the operator, and usually a variety of settings are available, a draft control mechanism is often present in modern three-point hitch systems. There are five different hitch sizes, called categories, the higher category hitches have sturdier lift arms and larger connector pins. Refers to implement end, Tractor end not specified, before the 1940s, most hitching of farm implements to tractors was done simply with a drawbar, on the same principle as a modern tow hitch. The drawbar was a bar with holes in it. The main reason why this was the default hitching idea is that it was the natural follow-on from the days of horse-drawn implements, which were towed as trailers by the horse or team. Towing with a drawbar is a good, practical system for many purposes, and it has continued to be used even up to today, Harry Ferguson patented the three-point linkage for agricultural tractors in Britain in 1926. He had long been a champion of the importance of rigid attachment of the plough to the tractor, the idea did not originate with him, but he led its popularization over many years of development, explaining, and selling
36.
Coulter (agriculture)
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A coulter or colter is a vertically mounted component of many plows that cuts an edge about 7 inches deep ahead of a plowshare. Its most effective depth is determined by soil conditions and its earliest design consisted of a knife-like blade. Coulters with a rotating disc began being used c. Its advantage was a cut bank, and it sliced plant debris to the width of the furrow. It softens the soil, allowing the plow to undercut the furrow made by the coulter, a rolling coulter has an optional accessory called a jointer. The jointer flips over a part of the surface on top of the slice before the plowshare flips the main slice. It ensures that all of the plant debris gets covered by the flipped slice
37.
Plowshare
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In agriculture, a plowshare or ploughshare is a component of a plow. It is the cutting or leading edge of a moldboard which closely follows the coulter when plowing, in well-tilled terrain the plowshare may do duty without a preceding coulter. In modern plows both coulter and plowshare are detachable for easy replacement when worn or broken, plowshares are often used in heraldry. The Rotherham Plough - the first commercially successful iron plough
38.
Water buffalo
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The water buffalo or domestic Asian water buffalo is a large bovid originating in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and China. Today, it is found in Europe, Australia, South America. The wild water buffalo native to Southeast Asia is considered a different species, Water buffalo were traded from the Indus Valley Civilisation to Mesopotamia, in modern Iraq,2500 BC by the Meluhhas. The seal of a scribe employed by an Akkadian king shows the sacrifice of water buffalo, at least 130 million domestic water buffalo exist, and more people depend on them than on any other domestic animal. They are especially suitable for tilling rice fields, and their milk is richer in fat, the large feral population of northern Australia became established in the late 19th century, and smaller feral herds are in New Guinea, Tunisia, and northeastern Argentina. Feral herds are present in New Britain, New Ireland, Irian Jaya, Papua New Guinea, Colombia, Guyana, Suriname, Brazil. The skin of buffalo is black, but some specimens may have dark. Swamp buffalo have a skin at birth, but become slate blue later. Albinoids are present in some populations, River buffalo have comparatively longer faces, smaller girths, and bigger limbs than swamp buffalo. Their dorsal ridges extend further back and taper off more gradually and their horns grow downward and backward, then curve upward in a spiral. Swamp buffalo are heavy-bodied and stockily built, the body is short, the forehead is flat, the eyes prominent, the face short, and the muzzle wide. The neck is long, and the withers and croup are prominent. A dorsal ridge extends backward and ends abruptly just before the end of the chest and their horns grow outward, and curve in a semicircle, but always remain more or less on the plane of the forehead. The tail is short, reaching only to the hocks, height at withers is 129–133 cm for males, and 120–127 cm for females. They range in weight from 300–550 kg, but weights of over 1,000 kg have also been observed, Tedong bonga is a black pied buffalo featuring a unique black and white colouration that is favoured by the Toraja of Sulawesi. The swamp buffalo has 48 chromosomes, the buffalo has 50 chromosomes. The two types do not readily interbreed, but fertile offspring can occur, buffalo-cattle hybrids have not been observed to occur, but the embryos of such hybrids reach maturity in laboratory experiments, albeit at lower rates than non-hybrids. The rumen of the buffalo has important differences from that of other ruminants
39.
Hubei
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Hubei is a province of the Peoples Republic of China, located in the Central China region. The name of the province north of the lake, referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The provincial capital is Wuhan, a major thoroughfare and the political, cultural. It borders Henan to the north, Anhui to the east, Jiangxi to the southeast, Hunan to the south, Chongqing to the west, the high-profile Three Gorges Dam is located at Yichang, in the west of the province. The Hubei region was home to sophisticated Neolithic cultures, by the Spring and Autumn period, the territory of todays Hubei was part of the powerful State of Chu. During the Warring States period Chu became the major adversary of the upstart State of Qin to the northwest, which began to assert itself by outward expansionism. As wars between Qin and Chu ensued, Chu lost more and more land, first its dominance over the Sichuan Basin, then its heartland, which correspond to modern Hubei. In 223 BC Qin chased down the remnants of the Chu regime, Qin founded the Qin dynasty in 221 BC, the first unified state in the region. Qin was succeeded by the Han dynasty in 206 BC, which established the province of Jingzhou in what is now Hubei, the Qin and Han played an active role in the agricultural colonization of Hubei, maintaining a system of river dikes to protect farmland from summer floods. Towards the end of the Han Dynasty in the beginning of the 3rd century, the incursion of northern nomadic peoples into the region at the beginning of the 4th century began nearly three centuries of division into a nomad-ruled north and a Han Chinese-ruled south. Hubei, to the South, remained under southern rule for this entire period, until the unification of China by the Sui dynasty in 589. After the Tang dynasty disintegrated in the 10th century, Hubei came under the control of several regional regimes, Jingnan in the center, Wu to the east, and the Five Dynasties to the north. The Song dynasty reunified the region in 982 and placed most of Hubei into Jinghubei Circuit, Mongols conquered the region in 1279, and under their rule the province of Huguang was established, covering Hubei, Hunan, and parts of Guangdong and Guangxi. The Ming dynasty drove out the Mongols in 1368 and their version of Huguang province was smaller, and corresponded almost entirely to the modern provinces of Hubei and Hunan combined. While Hubei was geographically removed from the centers of the Ming power, during the last years of the Ming, todays Hubei was ravaged several times by the rebel armies of Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng. The Manchu Qing dynasty which had much of the region in 1644, soon split Huguang into the provinces of Hubei. The Huangshi/Daye area, south-east of Wuhan, became an important center of mining, in 1911 the Wuchang Uprising took place in modern-day Wuhan, overthrowing the Qing dynasty and establishing the Republic of China. In 1927 Wuhan became the seat of a government established by left-wing elements of the Kuomintang, led by Wang Jingwei, during World War II the eastern parts of Hubei were conquered and occupied by Japan while the western parts remained under Chinese control
40.
Digging stick
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They may also have other uses in hunting or general domestic tasks. They are common to the Indigenous Australians but also other peoples worldwide, the tool normally consists of little more than a sturdy stick which has been shaped or sharpened and perhaps hardened by being placed temporarily in a fire. Fashioned with handles for pulling or pushing, it forms a prehistoric plow and it is a simple device, and has to be tough and hardy in order not to break. In Mexico and the Mesoamerican region, the stick was the most important agricultural tool throughout the region. The coa stick normally flares out into a triangle at the end and is used for cultivating maize and it is still used for agriculture in some indigenous communities, with some newer 20th-century versions having the addition of a little metal tip. Typical digging sticks were and are still about 2 to 3 feet in length, usually slightly arched, with the bottom tip shaved off at an angle. A5 to 8 inch cross-piece made of antler, bone, or wood was fitted perpendicularly over the top of the stick, since contact with the Europeans in the 19th century, Native Americans have also adapted the use of a metal in making digging sticks. The most common digging stick found in Ethiopia is the ankassay in Amharic, a Semitic language spoken in Ethiopia, the ankassay is a single shaft that is about 4–5 feet in length with a socket-hafted pointed iron blade as the tip. The deungora is a particularly long digging stick is about 110 centimeters, or approximately 3.6 feet, what’s unique about this digging stick is that a bored stone, about 15 centimeters in diameter, is attached at the opposing end. This stone shares the form as other bored stones that have been discovered in archaeological sites in Africa. The maresha is the Gurage name, also the word used by the Amhara. It is used primarily to dig holes for construction, planting and this tool is used as a plow to turn over the soil of an entire field before planting. It is used to break clods of soil in areas where the soil is hard or in areas that may be too steep for plowing, when compared to the ankassay, this digging stick can perform the same duties and in addition can be used as a hoe. The Kuman people of region were horticulturists who used basic tools such as the digging stick, wooden hoe. Eventually they started to use more sophisticated tools such as iron spades and pick-axes
41.
Hoe (tool)
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A hoe is an ancient and versatile agricultural and horticultural hand tool used to shape soil, remove weeds, clear soil, and harvest root crops. Shaping the soil includes piling soil around the base of plants, digging narrow furrows, weeding with a hoe includes agitating the surface of the soil or cutting foliage from roots, and clearing soil of old roots and crop residues. Hoes for digging and moving soil are used to harvest root crops such as potatoes, there are many kinds of hoes of varied appearances and purposes. Some have multiple functions while others have singular and specific functionality, there are two genera of hoe, draw hoes for shaping soil and scuffle hoes for weeding and aerating soil. A draw hoe has a set at approximately a right angle to the shaft. The user chops into the ground and then pulls the blade towards them, altering the angle of the handle can cause the hoe to dig deeper or more shallowly as the hoe is pulled. A draw hoe can easily be used to cultivate soil to a depth of several inches, a typical design of draw hoe, the eye hoe, has a ring in the head through which the handle is fitted. This design has been used since Roman times, a scuffle hoe is used to scrape the surface of the soil, loosen the top inch or so, and to cut the roots of, remove, and disrupt the growth of weeds efficiently. These are primarily of two different designs, the Dutch Hoe and the Hoop Hoe, the term hand hoe most commonly refers to any type of light-weight, short-handled hoe, although it may be used simply to contrast hand-held tools against animal or machine pulled tools. The typical farming and gardening hoe with a heavy, broad blade, the Paxton hoe is similar to the Italian hoe, but with a more rounded rectangular blade. The hoedad, also denominated the hoedag, is a tool used to plant trees. According to Hartzell, The hoedag originally called skindvic hoe, hans Rasmussen, legendary contractor and timber farm owner, is credited with having invented the curved, convex, round-nosed hoedag blade which is widely used today. The mortar hoe is a specific to the manual mixing of mortar and concrete. The Dutch hoe is designed to be pushed or pulled through the soil to cut the roots of weeds just under the surface, a Dutch hoe has a blade sharp on every side so as to cut either forwards and backwards. The blade must be set in a plane slightly upwardly inclined in relation to the axis of the shaft. The user pushes the handle to move the forward, forcing it below the surface of the soil. A scuffle hoe can easily cultivate soil and remove weeds from the surface layer. The hoop hoe, also known as the hoe, oscillating, hula, stirrup, pendulum weeder
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