A Feeling for the Land, BalLbana Thompson

A FEELING FOR THE LAND By Barbara Thompson

A trip through Westchester County this past week-end, where houses, few of which can be found older than 1870, rub each other's elbows, and where even an open lot is an expensive luxury, brought back to mind the thousand diverse ways in which people live, and the standards by which they value success. Just 60 miles north of that pressurized compartment is another totally different way of living, paced by nature's seasons, and by the timeclock of the sun. To begin this story one can go back to August of 1787, when Robert Martin purchased a "dwelling house and tract of land" of 156 acres in the Little Nine Partners for 117 pounds and 7 shillings from George Clinton. It is fairly certain that the two main rooms of the house now owned by Mr. and Mrs. Leland Jacoby, is the same dwelling house mentioned in the early deed. Since that time, probably about 1832, when Robert E. Thorne bought the farm, the house had another large room added to the south with a narrow, steep flight of stairs leading to the upper story, just one room's width. The stonework of the earliest foundation walls is much more skillful than that found in the addition; a flat wall of face stones in comparison to the roughly laid field stones. The beams supporting the floor in the newer part of the house have been adzed, whereas the older beams are whole trees that have been flattened only on the upper sides. The deed of 1832 from Martin to Thorne contains 128 acres. Three years later Robert Thorne purchased an additional 28 acres, bringing the farm near its original dimensions. The first deed mentions a black oak tree standing near the southwest corner of a bog meadow. Forty five years later the same course goes back to a "black oak tree blown down." The meadow is called a fly or vly, which is the Dutch word for boggy meadow. One last note about the information found in the deeds is that on the 1832 deed, the whole eastern boundary of the farm is "along the road running rearly north and south." The earlier deed of 1787 contains no reference to a road, but uses the eastern bounds of Great Lot 21 as the eastern boundary of the farm. The family of Robert E. Thorne held the land until 1899 when it was sold at auction to Carl Jacoby, and in 1901 he transferred the property to his brother Conrad. In those years diversified farming was still a common practice. The farm was almost self-sufficient; staples such as flour and sugar were bought by the barrel and eggs bartered for additional groceries during the year. In the years of World War II, when taxes and land values started to rise, things began to change rapidly. Leland Jacoby, along with many others, converted to dairy specialization. Acres that had grown rye and buckwheat were turned to hay and corn. The barn was changed to accomodate the expanded Holstein herd. Dairy farming in Milan can be a tenuous, hard earned way of life. Only 37% of the 163 acres is useable land. The rest is rocky hills and inaccessible swamp land. In order to be successful, top milk producing cows are a necessity, as is the ability to be self-sufficient in the repair and maintenance of machinery and buildings. One has to be able to accurately judge weather signs and know that there is a time for every thirig to be done. Perhaps most of all, one has to have the

desire and willingness to put in long hours that are required every day, and have a tenacious love of land and independence. Lee Jacoby has been a member of the DHIA for 15 years. The dairy herd is down to 34, now that he and his wife Dorothy operate the farm alone. This is one of the two dairy farms left in Milan. They have put all four of their children through college, their farm is their own. Answers to "why?" come easier in watchful care and appreciation of the land, than in words. Such is another ruler by which men measure achievement.