446 
June 17 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
to see them. The tact with which he managed this 
delicate business was a nice thing to see. One of these 
sinful young creatures was no taller than a child of 
10, a rosy-cheeked lad who had fired two buildings, 
been twice in jail, and who gave every evidence of 
being a born criminal. But in the two years he had 
been at the Republic, a remarkable change had been 
wrought. Another tall boy of 17 who had been there 
but six months, was at that time the Judge of the 
Republic, and his demeanor on the Bench, and his 
decisions were spoken of most admiringly. 
Healthy Young Folks.— On our way to Mr. 
George’s private office, a wee room in the rear of the 
brown cottage, we passed the baseball ground. No¬ 
where was the smallest approach to luxury of sur¬ 
roundings, or of what most persons would regard as 
common comfort. Undoubtedly, what they had there 
was as good as their previous environment had been, 
plus the pure air. One of the girls was a little Cuban, 
her pretty dark face framed in black, curling hair. 
She was a newcomer, having been sent on from New 
York, and the older girls said she was homesick; that 
they weren’t all homesick and didn’t run away, 
illustrated mightily the magnetic power that con¬ 
stituted the Republic, and was making good men and 
true out of material that fills prisons and swings on 
gallows. 
“The young people look remarkably healthy, Mr. 
George,” I remarked as we sat down in his office. 
Money and Manners.— “ Yes, illness is practically 
unknown among them. Their food is necessarily very 
simple, just what they can pay for,” and he handed 
us from a drawer, the coin of the realm—dollars, half 
dollars, quarters, dimes, nickels and cents, cut from 
tin and stamped round with the George Jr. Republic, 
instead of United States of America. But it is at par 
with United States money in the Republic, and when 
a boy leaves, his savings (for they have their bank) 
are exchanged for United States money. 
“ I shou’d think the boys would run away, for I see 
nothing whatever to prevent them from so doing—not 
even a fence!” 
‘ Sometimes they do; they certainly can if they 
wish to.” 
“ And do you get them again ? ” 
“ Oh, yes; our police go in search of them, and bring 
them in. I mean the boys who act as police.” 
“ And then what ? ” 
“They are lodged in jail, put on bread and water, 
clothed in stripes and given a number, brought into 
court, tried and sentenced, usually to work on the 
stone pile, according to the magnitude of the offense. 
Let us go to the Court House and you will better 
understand how violators of law are treated.” 
We found the Court House quite a spacious building, 
containing not only the court room with platform for 
the court, but cells for criminals, the Bank, Post 
Office and various government offices. 
Tried by their Peers— “I wish you could see 
the court in session,’’resumed Mr. George,“for it really 
is an impressive sight. I have seen boys, who, when 
brought up before the police magistrate in New York 
City, regard it as an affair to be proud of, and boast 
of for days after, but who when taken from a cell 
here, and brought up through the trap door in the 
platform into court, break down into tears Not only 
the criminal himself, but the court that tries him, the 
boys who act as lawyers, witnesses and in every 
capacity, have brought home to them legal duty and 
responsibility in a way that is a part of their social 
existence, and which they are bound to respect. In 
this settlement of their own affairs, the qualities of 
citizenship in the boys naturally develop their sense 
of justice, their talent for pleading as lawyers, their 
sense of the enormity of various crimes of breakieg 
jail—of theft, of assault, of cheating, falsehood, pro¬ 
fanity, of running away, of indecency (sometimes 
torn and ragged clothing goes for indecency), and 
marked untidiness of person or of lodgings, are in¬ 
cluded in their schedule of crimes ” 
Later on, we looked through the Court Record, 
where the various crimes and their sentences were 
duly inscribed, probably the most curious and inter¬ 
esting expression of juvenile jarisprudence in the 
world, and in some cases, of- spelling as well! 
MART WAGER FISHEB. 
(To be continued.) 
Now is the time to prune Spring-flowering shrubs, immediately 
after blooming. 
If the wool trust become the sole buyer and sole seller within 
our tariff fences, where will the farmers come in ? 
In 1898, the New York Board of Health condemned and de¬ 
stroyed 860,963 pounds of bad meat, 191,880 pounds of this being 
bob veal. 
One small boy in New York has invented a horseless carriage 
of his own. He puts on roller skates, and is pulled around by a 
big St. Bernard dog. 
There are 18 licensed chicken slaughterhouses In New York 
City, yet there are numerous convictions every year for violation 
of the sanitary code for keeping live chickens in tenements. 
SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT CUBA. 
ANSWERED BY A FARMER. 
One of our readers has been farming in Cuba since the early 
8 pring, making arrangements for growing a large crop of pota¬ 
toes and other vegetables to be shipped to our northern markets. 
As with other lines of business in Cuba, this plan of raising 
farm produce is receiving considerable attention. A number of 
readers have asked us about farm conditions on the Island. The 
following questions and answers are typical ones, and will, 
probably, explain some matters: 
“ Do you think health would be good in your sec¬ 
tion from October 1 to June 1, with ordinary precau¬ 
tions ? ” 
“ Y«.s, the days are never excessively hot, there is 
always a breeze, and the night3 are always cool. I 
have not known one in which we have not needed 
some bed clothes over us.” 
“Can you grow vegetables successfully, say Irish 
potatoes, egg plants, cucumbers, beans and onions ? 
How much fertilizer is used to the acre ? ” 
“Yes, very fine potatoes are grown here in large 
quantities. The average yield is not large, being 
about seven barrels for each one planted; a few 
growers raise 15 or 18 to 1. The plowing is shallow, 
rarely over five inches. The rows are too near to¬ 
gether, and the crop is not given enough cultivation. 
No fertilizer or manure is used. With deep plowing, 
thorough cultivation, and a small quantity of ferti¬ 
lizer, large crops can be grown. All farm land in this 
valley is under ditch, and can be irrigated. These re¬ 
marks apply to all the vegetables enumerated, and to 
tomatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, beets, lettuce, peas 
Limas, peppers, radishes, spinach, turnips, etc., all of 
which can be grown to perfection at any time between 
CONDOLENCE IN THE POULTRY YARD. Fig. 179. 
Weeping Mamma: “ Isn’t it enough to make one sad, to discover 
that one’s only child is nothing but a miserable duck ? ” 
Practical Friend: “Well, madam, it isn’t necessary to brood 
over it, is it ?’’—Harper’s Weekly. 
September and May 15, or whenever the rainy season 
begins.” 
“What is the freight rate on vegetables to New 
York, and the duty ?” 
“ The freight on potatoes and, I think, on all vege¬ 
tables in barrels, from Guines to New York, is 81 10 
per barrel; to this it will, probably, be necessary to 
add something for carting in Havana, if arrangements 
are not made to load directly from the c*r into the 
steamer. United States duties are on potatoes, per 
bushel, 25 cents ; cabbages, three cents each ; onions, 
per bushel, 40 cents ; peas, 40 cents per bushel; other 
vegetables, 25 per cent ad valorem ” 
“Can open land be rented, at how much per acre, 
and how much would it cost per acre to bring it into 
cultivation ? ” 
“Open land can be rented near here for $8 to $10 
per acre now. The farming year begins August 1, 
and arrangements for renting should be made at once. 
Land will be scarce and high after July.” 
“ Can the labor now in Cuba be depended on, if one 
had American foremen ? ” 
“Yes. I have never had better or more willing 
workmen, but they have no knowledge of modern 
agricultural methods. ” 
“Is there much difference in the quality of the 
land ? ” 
“ No. All the land near Guines is good ; all can be 
irrigated.” 
“ Could a pair of heavy mules break the land ? ” 
“Yes; I am doing all my plowing with mules. I 
would not put them to breaking dry land, but after 
wetting it, they have no difficulty in turning up a 
deep furrow. I shall use horses in the Fall.” 
“ Do you think there is much danger from bandits, 
to Americans attending to their own business strictly?” 
“There are no bandits in Cuba. I th : nk life and 
property more secure here than in the States. The 
danger to life and property, of which you have read, 
exists solely in the imagination of the correspondents 
whose “ stuff ” will not be printed unless it is excit¬ 
ing. The truth about Cuba is beautiful but prosy.” 
“ Do the dry Winters and Springs damage vege¬ 
table s to any extent ? ” 
“Irrigation enables one to grow vegetables here 
successfully when it would be impossible to do so on 
other parts of the Island. Sugar cane, bananas, 
pineapples and tobacco do well on dry land, that is, 
land that cannot be irrigated, but vegetables cannot 
be grown here during the dry season, unless irri¬ 
gated.” 
“If it took oxen to break the land, could cne hire 
it done by the acre, and can one get all the open land 
he desires ? ” 
“Oxen are still scarce, and at the time plowing 
should be done, I doubt whether any could be hired. 
When hired, they are very expensive. I have paid 
S3 50 per day for a yoke of oxen and driver, and got 
one-fifth acre plowed, 2% days being allowed for an 
a:re. At present, 1 am having a great deal of open, 
good land, offered me. I do not think there will be 
much ! n the market next Fall.” howabd egleston. 
IRRIGATION FOR SMALL FRUITS. 
METHODS OF APPLYING WATER. 
Results in a Wet Season. 
At the meeting of the E Astern New York Horticultural Society, 
at Albany, last Spring, Frank A. Taber, of Poughkeepsie, gave 
an account of his experiments with irrigation. He pumps w .ter 
out of a pond or lake, and forces it through hose and nezz'e. 
The fo'lowing notes from his paper will interest readers who live 
in the dry portions of the country: 
Sub-irrigation not Practical.— Laying pipes 
underground is expensive ; moreover, it is difficult, if 
not impossible, to sub-irrigate so as to obtain a uni¬ 
form distribution of water throughout the soil, on ac¬ 
count of the fact that, while water moves up and 
down in the soil with comparative rapidity, it moves 
from side to side very slowly. The pipes being out 
of sight, it is impossible to note the movement of the 
water with accuracy. The soil immediately around 
the pipes may become excessively wet, while a large 
proportion of the soil between is insufficiently irri¬ 
gated. Prof. King also found that a given amount of 
water was more effective in increasing a yield of corn 
when applied by surface than by sub-irrigation. 
Prof. Rane, of New Hampshire, has tried a system 
of tile irrigation, which he has found to possess de¬ 
cided advantages over ordinary sub-irrigation. This 
was to place common porous 2^-inch drain tiles in a 
continuous row, end to end, on the surface of the soil, 
vegetables being planted on either or both sides of 
the line. The tiles were one foot long, and by pour- 
iDg in the water at one end of the line, it was dis¬ 
tributed at the joints throughout the length desired 
when the opposite end was stopped up. The tiles 
are cheap, and last indefinitely. We were able to 
water 20 times as much space in the same time as 
in the ordinary way with ditches. Besides saving 
time, this plan delivers water where it is most needed, 
and we have reason to believe, is fully as economical 
of water as of time. Experiments elsewhere during 
two seasons have shown that, with this method, the 
plants did fully as well as in other systems and with 
less water.” 
Furrow or Nozzle. —Where irrigation is done on 
a large scale, it seems decided that surface irrigation 
by means of farrows is the most practicable method. 
We cannot agree to this opinion. The running of 
water through the paths, especially at picking time, 
would make such a condition of the soil as to be im¬ 
practicable. Daring the past season, in strawberry 
irrigation with the 100 feet of hose, I could, with our 
attachment of the hose, cover a circle 400 feet in 
diameter, or something over two acres. This could 
be thoroughly wet in two hours, if we say that we 
delivered but 200 gallons per minute, which would 
give us nearly half an inch of water over the whole 
area. This is more than really is necessary at one 
time for strawberries, unless allowed to get too dry in 
the beginning. 
Irrigating Kaspberries.— After we finished with 
the strawberries, which really had too much rain, the 
pip?s were taken up and transferred to the red rasp¬ 
berries (Marlboro) These had betn injured by the 
warm weather in March starting the sap, and the ex¬ 
cessively cold April froze and burst the cells so that a 
large proportion of the canes failed to start, making 
a short crop. First picking was on June 29, second 
picking on July 4 On July 6 we gave them the first 
irrigation. No rain fine*. Jbne 28, and extremely 
hot; ground drying out very fast. July 13 we gave 
the piece its second and last irrigation. This was ap¬ 
plied in the same way as on the strawberries, thrown 
from the nozzle. The berries were all of good qual¬ 
ity, nice size, and crop fully carried out, which would 
