The Republican journal., 1885-04-16
Notes by the Way.
THE DUTIES OF MAIL AGENT. A FORMER
BELFAST TEACHER OF PENMANSHIP. VISIT
TO A STOCK FARM. A SUCCESSFUL FARMER



THE DUTIES OF MAIL AGENT. A FORMER
BELFAST TEACHER OF PENMANSHIP. VISIT
TO A STOCK FARM. A SUCCESSFUL FARMER.
Correspondence of the journal.
WALNUT HILL, April 4. 1885. The other
morning we packed our "grip," made hasty
toilet ate hurried breakfast and started for
the depot with the intention Of making little
trip up the line. In due time we are taken on
board the train and Charley pulls us up the
road to Burnham. We spend little time in
the postal car watching the agent assort the
mail, and as we notice the rapidity and ease
with which he does his work we realize that it
takes experience as well as ability to thorough.
ly tit man for the position of mail agent, es-
pecially on the long lines There would be
many blunders and much inconvenience to the
public should any radical change be made In
the employees now engaged in this work. The
new men must be trained by months of actual
service before they will be fitted to take charge
of this very important branch of business 1t
needs thorough knowledge of the business,
as well as quick, accurate, faithful. constant
attention, TO make a tirst-class mail agent. Mr..
which they are expected to decipher at d single
glance, and we do not wonder that mail agents.
as well as compositors, grow old before their
time. One address we concluded to be Hiram
with two RS, and beginning with small letter,
aud wretchedy written. BY practice, how
ever. the agents learn to read and translate al
most any scrawl which may be presented, and
fayU ptta full 70 thar
tualy because of poor writing or Incorrect
spelling.
We have pleasant ride on the main line,
and after making stops at various points on the
road reach Walnut Hill in Yarmouth where we
are the guest of Geo. d. B. Witham whom we
remember as teacher of penmanshp in the
schools of Belfast some fourteen years ago
lie was for some years in trade on Deer Isle
where he married, then did business for time
in Portland, but losing his health he came here
hoping to regain it in rural occupation. In
company with Mr.. Witham we visited the
stock farm of Mr.. Ed. Beals, where we found
something of interest. His stock consists of 10
cows. with several young cattle, and four
horses His cows with one exception are
Dutch or Holsteins. They are very large, give
great quantities of milk, and as he says are
very profitable. His butter is all sold at a fixed
price in Portland. He feeds iberallv and saws
it pays him to do SO. He says he is getting sick
OF cotton seed for feed and now feeds meal and
shorts in about equal quantities. He thinks
very highly of cob meal, that is, the corn and
cob ground together, and would prefer 1t pound
for pound to clear meal if it is finely ground.
His barn Is in a level place with ground floor,
and stables on each side. The manure is thrown
back of the cattle in wintlrow and is hauled
out at all seasons of the year when the snow is
not too deep and spread directly upon the land
lie claims that he gets better corn when the
and early winter than when it is left in heaps
to be spread in the spring He thinks that the
loss by this method is very small, in fact less
than by leaving it in heaps on the land unless
it il on steep hillside. He uses sand to bed
his stock when he can get it, but if he is out of
this he uses sawdust as a substitute His soil
Is of clay formation and heavy. He has doors
at each end of his barn so that he can drive his
team directly through it. His stock is kept
nicely groomed and looks neat and clean This
Dutch stock is very large. We saw pair Of
calves which he says will not be IA year old I'M
Ill the last of May which girt over ) fl. They
are certainly very larg,, fat and handsome
Mr.. Beas makes a speciality of raising pigs for
market. and has disposed Of nearly sixty al
ready TINS spring at an average Of 81 each. He
says he has no difficulty in di>po>ng of all he
can raise, as a rule. He ha, a large farm, good
buildings, and is evidently a man who makes
money by farming. We advise any Of our
Waldo County farmers who can conveniently
do so to make him a call. for many valuable,
practical points can be obtained from his ex-
pfnence. lie i, an every day farmer and at
tends to the business himself. and thus know,
just what he is talking about. We intend to
visit the place again at some future time and
obtain more points. Mr.. BealS lives but a few
rods from The depot, aud is II miles from Port
iand. BRUSQUE.