Farm Boundaries as Agroecological Systems
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Abstract
South-central Pennsylvania, framed by the great folds of the Appalachians to the north and west, by the Mason-Dixon Line to the south, and by the rise of hills that bound the lower Susquehanna River to the east, was claimed by settler-farmers of western European descent during the early and mid-eighteenth century. They utilized river and stream valleys to gain access to the fertile lowlands and rich uplands of the region, following in the steps of surveyors to mark farm boundaries with timber fences cut from the cloak of forest. The social and ecological imprint of these boundary structures has endured for hundreds of years.
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New Perspectives on the Environmental History of the Mid-Atlantic
Pennsylvania History is the official journal of the Pennsylvania Historical Association, and copyright remains with PHA as the publisher of this journal.