The War on Weeds in the Prairie West
An Environmental History

Clinton L. Evans

About the Book

Energetic and accessible, The War on Weeds in the Prairie West is the first full-blown environmental history of weeds in western Canada.

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 Clinton 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 legislation 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.

The work takes up a much neglected theme, follows it with skill across the sweep of Canada, and places it in a larger context of geography and ideas. No one else has written so comprehensive a study of the weed in North America. -- Donald Worster, University of Kansas

This is a significant piece of work.... It taps a wealth of data and information which has not previously been given much attention.-- R. Bruce Shepard, Diefenbaker Canada Centre, University of Saskatchewan

About the Author

Clinton L. Evans, a self-employed historical consultant, traces his interest in weeds back twenty years to his days as an agriculture student. He worked in the weed control industry, explored for minerals in northern British Columbia, and taught at Okanagan University College in Kelowna. He makes his home with his wife, children, and weed-infested lawn in Vernon, B.C.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction

1. Weeds and Culture
• What is a Weed?
• A Short History of Definitions
• Weeds and Culture
2. Good Husbandry and the Relationship Between People and Weeds in Great Britain, 1500-1900
• Weeds and Reformers
• Conflict
• Further Thoughts on Weeds
• Conclusion
3. From Colony to Nation: The Transformation of Immigrant Culture in Ontario, 1800-1867
• The "Rough Era," 1800-1865
• Explaining Cultural Change
• Conclusion
4. Dominion of the West, 1867-1905
• Weeds and Weed Experts in Ontario, 1867-1900
• A Colony of Ontario
• Shaping a Western Identity
• Conclusion
5. War on the Western Front, 1906-1945
• Allies to the South
• War-time Regulation, Bureaucracy, and Troop Education
• In the Trenches
• Conclusion
6. The Bomb and Aftermath
• Herbicide Development and Use in Western Canada to 1945
• 2,4-D and the Dawning of the "Hormone Era," 1945-1950
• Fallout
• Conclusion

Conclusion

Appendix 1. The 1865 Canada Thistle Act of Upper Canada
Appendix 2. Line Drawings of the Leading Cast of Weeds
Appendix 3. Colour Plates

Notes
Bibliography
Index

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