Good Fences Make Good Neighbors

[Fred Shapiro]

On Mon, 5 Jun 2006, Baker, John wrote:

>        As Frost himself recognizes, it is an old saying and of
> incontestable accuracy where there are cows or other animals that can
> damage crops.  Here's an 1859 example, from Transactions of the State
> Agricultural Society of Michigan; With Reports of County Agricultural
> Societies, for the Year 1859, Vol. XI, at 342 (1861) (via Making of
> America):

There are a number of examples from the 1830s and 1840s findable on the
databases.  The earliest I have found is 1834 in American Periodical
Series, I believe.

Fred Shapiro


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