Piedmont farmers during the great depression and even later worked at tasks their tobacco farming grandparents would have readily recognized hoeing weeds firing log barns and piling stones and brush in erosion gullies deep enough to swallow a mule and later a tractor most regional farmers labored on working to make a living from the crop they knew so well weather conditions wars . A golden weed tobacco and environment in the piedmont south yale agrarian studies series swanson drew a on amazoncom free shipping on qualifying offers a golden weed tobacco and environment in the piedmont south yale agrarian studies series. This is outstanding environmental history in calm measured prose drew swanson focuses a golden weed on tobacco culture in the local environment of three counties of the piedmont south in south central virginia and on the north carolina border he uses that regional and crop specific lens to narrate a history of nature culture ideas bodies plants and the dynamics of southern history. Drew a swanson has written an environmental history about a crop of great historical and economic significance american tobacco a preferred agricultural product for much of the south the tobacco plant would ultimately degrade the land that nurtured it but as the author provocatively argues the choice of crop initially made perfect agrarian as well as financial sense for southern . Drew a swanson presents an environmental history about a crop of great historical and economic significance american tobacco a preferred agricultural product for much of the south the tobacco plant would ultimately degrade the land that nurtured it but as the book provocatively argues the choice of crop initially made perfect agrarian as well as financial sense for southern planters