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Nutmegdog1959 t1_j9v7ery wrote

Two hundred years ago VT was 80% cleared and 20% forested. Now it's about opposite 80/20 forested/cleared.

VT was mostly sheep farms vs dairy at that time. Cows and goats will easily go over stone walls, sheep won't.

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BOOTS31 t1_j9vuddl wrote

I think it was even more recent than 200 years!

There was a tea shop in waterbury that had pictures of early 1900-1910 showing the clear-cut lands. It blew my damn mind! In every picture, you could see the farmers' lands separated by the stone walls.

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Nutmegdog1959 t1_j9w7yfv wrote

The cotton gin (1800) and the expansion of cotton reduced the demand for wool. Previously ALL garments were made of wool, including underwear.

The transition to dairy took a long time. The cotton gin (cotton engine) didn't gain widespread use until the 1850's. Even then, most Civil War uniforms were made of wool.

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