Excerpt from Yearbook of the United States Department of Agriculture, 1903 The tendency of the Yearbook to increase in size, following very naturally the growth of the Department whose work it deals with, led to the production for several years of a book of inconvenient dimeh sions, and threatened, unless a different system were pursued in its preparation, very soon to make a most unwieldy volume. An earnest effort had to be made, and a change was therefore inaugurated in the preparation of the present volume, with a view to reducing its bulk. The result has been to reduce it by about 5200 pages; while the tendency to conservatism in the matter of illustrations, which for the past year or two has characterized all the publication work of the Department, has caused a reduction in the number of plates from 87 in the Year book for 1902 to 65 in the present volume. It has been impossible, of course, to effect such a marked reduction without in some measure restricting the number of articles contributed. The number in this volume, while still considerably above the average since the Yearbook was established, is 32, as against 37 last year and 33 in the Yearbook for 1901. The authors are, however, to be con gratulated upon having more nearly than ever before approached the standard of brevity which it has been sought to establish in connection with Yearbook articles, and the average length is but a fraction over 12 pages. Readers who have been in the habit of consulting the Appendix will find there also evidence of this restrictive policy in the elimination of some features to which they have become accustomed. It is believed, however, that the most important information presented in this part of the Yearbook for permanent preservation has been retained. At a risk of repetition, it must be again stated for the information of those who desire to possess a copy of the work, that the quota assigned to the Department's use is barely su cient to supply its own active coworkers, and the great majority of people desiring to secure a copy must, therefore, depend upon their Senators, Representatives. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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.'