"twk Farmer Is of More Consequence Than*the Farm, and Should Be First Improved:

This institution, formerly known as the Reform School for Boys, was established at Lansing in 1856. The governing board consists of three members appointed by the governor for terms of six years. Boys between the ages of ten and sixteen, when convicted of any crime against the statutes not punishable by life imprisonment, are sent to this school, to remain until they are seventeen years of age, or until discharged for good behavior. Truancy has been made a crime, in the eyes of the law, and truancy and simple larceny are the most frequent offenses for which boys are sent to this school. The aim of the school is to make honest self-supporting citizens. The boys are taught the common school branches and the elements of some trade. When a boy first comes, he is cleaned up, dressed in a clean and neat suit of gray, put on his honor, and made to feel that he is of some importance. Boys attend school half a day and work half a day, half attending school in the forenoon and half in the afternoon. The school is graded up to about the seventh grade. Many of the pupils have to be started with their letters. Each teacher has charge of about forty pupils. When the boy first comes he is set at work doing odd jobs, cleaning rooms and halls, in the kitchen and laundry, etc. After a few weeks of such work he is told that he can choose some trade. He looks the ground over, talks with the boys, and chooses. Once he has made his choice he is not allowed to change unless the trade is one manifestly incompatible. The trades taught are printing, carpentry, tailoring, shoemaking, baking, and farming. The three former are the favorites, and the boys seem to succeed the best in them when they get out. The ¡School owns a farm of 260 acres which raises all of the vegetables used at the institution, and keeps forty cows. These furnish the milk supply. All the work on the farm is done by the boys; there being from ten to one hundred employed in that way. The average age at which boys enter is about thirteen. The average time of residence is approximately two years. The board has power to discharge a boy before he is seventeen, but the usual method is to send him out on parole. If he has a good home he is encouraged to return there. If not, the superintendent finds a home for him, preferably in the fnmily of a farmer. There is usually no difficulty in this, as there are always more applications for boys frpm this source than can be filled. The boys in Detroit, of whom there are usually from fifteen to twenty-five, meet the superintendent every two months. In other counties the boys report monthly, or bimonthly, to the county agents. In this way the history of the boys is known. The system seems to be a suicess, very few boys being returned because of bad behavior. Contrary to the impression of many people, there is no wall or high fence about this institution. The boys sleep in laige rooms, about twenty-five in a room, and at night are locked in. In most of the rooms there is nothing to prevent a boy from getting out of the window, if he has a rope or can tie two sheets together. In some of the rooms there are stout screens at the windows. In contrast with this freedom, and as illustrating the older ideas in reformatory methods, there is standing the original building, erected in 1856. It has small, cell-like rooms, with high, narrow, iron-barred windows—a veritable miniature prison. There are few escapes, and not many attempts. The discipline is strict but not harsh, corporal punishment being resorted to when it is adjudged a positive benefit to the obstreperous. Boys are never deprived of meals as a punishment.