The war on weeds in the Prairie West : an environmental history / Clinton L. Evans.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Evans, Clinton L. (Clinton Lorne), 1960-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Weeds--Control--Prairie Provinces--History.

Weeds.

Weeds--Control--Ontario--History.

Weeds--Control.

History.

Ontario.

Prairie Provinces.

Physical Description:

xvii, 309 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Calgary : University of Calgary Press, [2002]

Summary:

Despite the fact that fighting weeds was of paramount importance to the agricultural development of Canada, there has scarcely been any research on understanding the origins and history of these lowly plants. Finally, historian Clint Evans gives weeds the attention they deserve. In this ground-breaking study that spans four centuries of weed history, Evans focusses on the evolution of the relationship between people and weeds in the formative years of western Canada. This book documents the arrival of weeds with seed from England in the sixteenth century, how these foreign seeds survived and thrived on the plains of North America for centuries to come, and governmental perceptions and legislations against weeds. Highlighting topics such as weed biology and ecology, noxious weed legislation and "weed science," Evans considers the delicate connections between human culture and the natural world. Energetic and accessible, The War on Weeds in the Prairie West is the first full-blown environmental history of weeds in western Canada.

Contents:

1 Weeds and Culture 1

What is a Weed? 2

Weeds and Culture 14

2 Good Husbandry and the Relationship Between People and Weeds in Great Britain, 1500-1900 19

Weeds and Reformers 21

Conflict 26

3 From Colony to Nation: The Transformation of Immigrant Culture in Ontario, 1800-1867 53

The "Rough Era," 1800-1865 54

Explaining Cultural Change 68

4 Dominion of the West, 1867-1905 77

Weeds and Weed Experts in Ontario, 1867-1900 78

A Colony of Ontario 86

Shaping a Western Identity 92

5 War on the Western Front, 1906-1945 109

Allies to the South 111

War-time Regulation, Bureaucracy, and Troop Education 122

In the Trenches 135

6 The Bomb and Aftermath 151

Herbicide Development and Use in Western Canada to 1945 152

2,4-D and the Dawning of the "Hormone Era," 1945-1950 158

Fallout 165

Appendix 1 The 1865 Canada Thistle Act of Upper Canada 191

Appendix 2 Line Drawings of the Leading Cast of Weeds 195.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1552380297

OCLC:

48076078