The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1904-03-08

or so ago. There ought to be ten times as much
consumed as there really is.
81
For about forty years Noah Raby has been an
inmate of the poorhouse in New Brunswick, N.
j. Noah claimed, and no one has been able to
disprove his statement, that he was 131 years old.
What will be of interest to the readers of The
Progressive Farmer is the fact that he was a
North Carolinian, having been born in Gates
County. He said his father was an Indian and
his mother a white woman. When he was 81 he
became a hired man on the farm of "Wldow"
Penelope Parker in his home county. He served
on board the old frigate Constitution and on the
B~randywine. He claimed to have heard Wash
ington make a speech, and he had also had his
affairs of the heart" but had never married.
HI had used tobacco for 12O years. l hardly
think the statements of his early life can be cor
roborated by anyone now living in Gates County.
For years visitors have com for miles to see the
old man. He spent most of his time in a rocking
chair and for the past few months had been obi
vious to his surroundings. Requiescat in pace!
Il
One effect of the great improvements and con-
sequent expenditures which are going on in the
city is the advance in rents. The big estates like
the Astors and Goelets show the least, being only
from Z to 10 per cent. But in the upper part of
the city the rates have gone up from % to IN
some cases, 100 per cent, and as a result are at
an almost prohibitive point. An Office room can
be figured at about $40 per year per square foot.
A house to live in cannot be obtained except by
the very well-to-do, and as a result those of mod
crate means. live in flats and apartments which
range from $15 to $75 a month and upwards. To
get a decent suite of 6 rooms almost anywhere
will cost from $35 up, and if a man has any sur
plus money left this year it goes to the bakers
who have advanced the price of bread and rolls.
Rents all around New York are high, and they
are high because the people can afford to pay the
prices.
There seems to be good money for farmers in
raising broom corn. 1t is said to cost $4O@$45
per ton to grow it in the Northern States, and
present quotations are from $900$12O per ton,
with an average of 800 for the past six years.
Very fertile land will produce one ton per acre
but even allowing only a half-ton, the cultivation
would still seem to be far more profitable than
wheat. The Ramseur, On. O., broom works re-
ports a good trade, and say they can buy all the
brush they need at 5@512c. per pound. Such be-
ing the case, it would seem the part of wisdom for
your farmers to send their broomcorn to North
ern points.
There is a rather slow cotton market and liqui-
dation has been quite free as the result of dis
appointing dispatches from abroad. The fuctua-
tions have been quite narrow and perhaps a dozen
points would represent the "straight and narrow
path. Middling uplands 1880 against 1915 a year
ago. Reports from Texas say that the weather
is all that could be desired for the preparation
of the soil, and farmers are farther advanced
than ever before. From other sections come re-
ports which indicate a liberal acreage as likely to