The Culture of Wilderness
The Culture of Wilderness

Author: Frieda Knobloch

Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press

Published: 2000-11-09

Total Pages: 221

ISBN-13: 0807862541

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In this innovative work of cultural and technological history, Frieda Knobloch describes how agriculture functioned as a colonizing force in the American West between 1862 and 1945. Using agricultural textbooks, USDA documents, and historical accounts of western settlement, she explores the implications of the premise that civilization progresses by bringing agriculture to wilderness. Her analysis is the first to place the trans-Mississippi West in the broad context of European and classical Roman agricultural history. Knobloch shows how western land, plants, animals, and people were subjugated in the name of cultivation and improvement. Illuminating the cultural significance of plows, livestock, trees, grasses, and even weeds, she demonstrates that discourse about agriculture portrays civilization as the emergence of a colonial, socially stratified, and bureaucratic culture from a primitive, feminine, and unruly wilderness. Specifically, Knobloch highlights the displacement of women from their historical role as food gatherers and producers and reveals how Native American land-use patterns functioned as a form of cultural resistance. Describing the professionalization of knowledge, Knobloch concludes that both social and biological diversity have suffered as a result of agricultural 'progress.'

Maplecrest Turkey Farms, Inc.: A. C. Gingerich & the Turkey Industry in Wellman, Iowa
Maplecrest Turkey Farms, Inc.: A. C. Gingerich & the Turkey Industry in Wellman, Iowa

Author: Gordon W. Miller

Publisher: Masthof Press & Bookstore

Published: 2016-06-20

Total Pages: 222

ISBN-13: 1601264941

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In the late 1920s until 1965 Maplecrest Turkey Farms of Wellman, Iowa, was a leading pioneer in the modern commercial turkey industry. A. C. Gingerich, an Amish-Mennonite farmer and entrepreneur, was able to successfully develop his business from a handful of turkeys to make Wellman both a “Turkey Capital/Center of the World” and have it uniquely proclaimed as “Thanksgiving Town” by the late 1930s. The Maplecrest brand was known for its premium quality and was available, by name, in leading restaurants also by the late 1930s. This historical book looks at how the modern turkey industry was able to initiate itself largely through knowledge of disease prevention through sanitation means. Some chapters include topics such as how the turkeys were raised, processed and marketed, especially to Eastern markets, e.g. New York City, Boston, etc., and a chapter on World War II discusses the major role that Maplecrest played in producing not only turkeys, but beef, pork and lamb for the armed forces. (219pp. color illus. index. Masthof Press, 2016.)

Plants Go to War
Plants Go to War

Author: Judith Sumner

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2019-06-17

Total Pages: 367

ISBN-13: 1476676127

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As the first botanical history of World War II, Plants Go to War examines military history from the perspective of plant science. From victory gardens to drugs, timber, rubber, and fibers, plants supplied materials with key roles in victory. Vegetables provided the wartime diet both in North America and Europe, where vitamin-rich carrots, cabbages, and potatoes nourished millions. Chicle and cacao provided the chewing gum and chocolate bars in military rations. In England and Germany, herbs replaced pharmaceutical drugs; feverbark was in demand to treat malaria, and penicillin culture used a growth medium made from corn. Rubber was needed for gas masks and barrage balloons, while cotton and hemp provided clothing, canvas, and rope. Timber was used to manufacture Mosquito bombers, and wood gasification and coal replaced petroleum in European vehicles. Lebensraum, the Nazi desire for agricultural land, drove Germans eastward; troops weaponized conifers with shell bursts that caused splintering. Ironically, the Nazis condemned non-native plants, but adopted useful Asian soybeans and Mediterranean herbs. Jungle warfare and camouflage required botanical knowledge, and survival manuals detailed edible plants on Pacific islands. Botanical gardens relocated valuable specimens to safe areas, and while remote locations provided opportunities for field botany, Trees surviving in Hiroshima and Nagasaki live as a symbol of rebirth after vast destruction.

ARS-33
ARS-33

Author: United States. Agricultural Research Service

Publisher:

Published:

Total Pages: 658

ISBN-13:

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