850 
THE RUBLA.L> NEW-YORKER 
four boys on regular (lining-room chairs. Every 
table held a bouquet of wild-flowers. I inquired if 
this was by order of Brother Barnabas, and I was 
told no. The department is in charge of one of the 
liigli-merit boys, and at his own initiative he pro¬ 
vided the flower decoration. They enjoyed the gath¬ 
ering of the flowers, he told me. quite as much as 
the cheerfulness of them in the room. I learned 
that there are no favorites and no special tables at 
Lincolndale. Every teacher, and every visitor, high 
or low, goes in with the boys, and eats just what 
the boys eat, nothing more and nothing less. I 
found myself escorted to one of the dining-rooms 
and seated courteously by one of the boys. The 
tasty milk soup was served in soup plates from the 
kitchen. The fish and vegetables were brought in 
in large dishes; and one of the boys, with all the 
plates before him. served the other boys and myself. 
We had fish, two vegetables, green onions and green 
radishes, wholesome wheat bread, coffee with milk 
and sugar, and plain cakes. No butter was served 
with this meal. We had napkins, silver and plate 
of the quality usually found in private families of 
culture and fair means. The boys at my table were 
probably 12 to 13 years of age. There was not a 
dull minute during the meal. The boys told me of 
the fire they had had, of the horses they drive, and 
their hopes of an auto in the future. They dis¬ 
played intelligent, general information, and sur¬ 
prised me with their understanding of the Mexican 
situation and of the causes that led up to it. While 
frankly and promptly responding to any suggested 
lead, the boys did not show any anxiety to display 
their information. They showed reserve without 
timidity, and ready expression without boldness. I 
was so charmed with the conversation and deport¬ 
ment of the boys that I forgot my coffee and aban¬ 
doned the cup half drank when the boys at other 
tables rose to depart. 
THE COTTAGES.—After lunch the boys took me 
through their cottages. These are arranged to ac¬ 
commodate 30 boys each; but the two connected 
with the main buildings have two floors, equipped 
for 30 boys on each floor. Each floor has a large 
parlor with open fireplace, a large table covered 
with papers, and a closet of books. The room is pro¬ 
vided with comfortable chairs and the walls are 
decorated with pictures. A corner of the veranda 
is screened in, and the boys furnish this with a 
table and chairs in favorable weather. In the 
sleeping-room each boy has an iron bed, clean and 
comfortable, and covered with a clean spread. He 
also has a chair and a chiffonier, in which he keeps 
his personal belongings, such as comb, brushes, col¬ 
lars, ties, etc. These were provided with locks, but 
the keys were not used. I marveled that 30 boys 
could sleep in one room with personal effects and 
trinkets exposed and find no need for locks. I was 
told that that was because of the Lincoln spirit. 
No boy would touch what belonged to another. 
Here were 30 boys living and sleeping in a cottage 
by themselves with no monitor, and not a sci'atch 
to mar wall or furniture after five years of service. 
I asked what stayed the hand of the careless or 
mischievous boy, and was again told, the Lincoln 
spirit. We went to the basement, where the boys 
practice indoor sports. The hard floor serves for 
roller skating, and each boy seems to have a pair 
of roller skates. The sides of the room are lined 
wth steel lockers, where the boys keep their skates, 
their farm clothes, and their baseball suits. 
EVIDENCES OF CHARACTER. — During the 
afternoon the boys donned their uniforms and re¬ 
turned to the ball field determined to make the 
most of their holiday. I mingled with them. They 
had the baseball vocabulary and used it freely; but 
in all that field, with 10 or 12 games all going at 
one time, I did not hear a single dispute, and no 
protests against the umpires’ decisions. I not only 
did not hear an oath, but I did not hear a vulgar 
or offensive expression of any kind. The girls of 
the female seminary might witness those games and 
mingle with the players without hearing anything 
objectionable to their sense of delicacy. To fully 
understand the significance of this, you must re¬ 
member that these were boys from the New York 
streets. Some of them were destitute, with no one 
to look after them or care for them. Others were 
delinquents. When they went to the school they 
were probably no better nor worse than our own 
children or ourselves might have been under similar 
environment and like conditions. The future of a 
destitute or delinquent boy in New York City, if 
left to himself, is a mere matter of speculation, no 
matter who were his parents. On the street they 
learn slang, vulgar and profane speech. They are 
hunted from place to place, taught craft and deceit. 
The bold among them are constantly on the de¬ 
fensive; the timid develop a low cunning; and 
frankness and candor, to say the least, are not 
characteristic virtues. Disease and hunger and dis¬ 
sipation demand their share of such children when 
left to themselves. Of those who reach maturity in 
this environment, the dull would help swell the 
population of our almshouses, the bright among 
them would become criminals. There may be ex¬ 
ceptions; there probably would be. This is the 
rule. As a resident of the city I am familiar with 
these conditions, and for that reason was able to 
apreciate the transformation of these boys at the 
Lincoln Agricultural School. 
SYSTEM OF MANAGEMENT.—There was noth¬ 
ing to keep the boys from leaving the farm if they 
choose to do so. I asked my boy escort if they ever 
ran away. Only three I was told in all the expe¬ 
rience of the school. Two came back the same day, 
and were promptly reinstalled. One tried to come 
back later, but was not allowed to do so. A place, 
however, was found for him. I asked my young 
escort how the new boys got on. “Oh, all right,” 
I was told. “You see, the new boys are put in 
charge of a merit boy or a 35-boy. Brother Bar¬ 
nabas requests the monitor not to be too strict at 
first, but to lead the new boys gradually to see that 
the other boys would not stand for anything but 
good conduct. They are made to understand that 
no matter what the past has been, their standing at 
the school depends on what they do there. Every 
boy gets a show, and he is advanced in the merit 
roll as he deserves.” 
THE MERIT SYSTEM.—I was a little hazy 
about “35-boys” and “merit roll,” and I asked for 
an explanation. 
“Why, it is this way,” explained my escort. 
“Every boy has some merit, so the new boys each 
get a seven mark. At the end of six months a new 
boy is permitted to write a letter to the council, 
asking to be advanced in merit, and giving the 
reasons why he thinks he should be advanced. If 
the council thinks he deserves it he is then given 
14 points. After another six months, if he main¬ 
tains his good record, he gets 21; then 28, and 
finally 35 points, which is the highest merit.” If 
the boy then maintains his record for a year, on 
the following Lincoln’s Birthday he gets a Lincoln 
diploma and becomes a member of the Lincoln 
Agricultural Society. Every boy is striving for this 
distinction. This was all plain enough. The “35- 
boys” were those who after some years of perse¬ 
verance had attained the highest degree of merit. 
But their standing was defined by “the council.” 
“Does the ‘council’ mean the Brother teachers?” 
“No, the ‘council’ is made up of the ‘35-boys.’ 
Brother Barnabas would have the right to change 
the decision of the council, but he never has occa¬ 
sion to do so, because the boys are constantly in 
touch with one another, and know the records.” 
“When a boy is not advanced, does he often com¬ 
plain that he has not been justly treated?” 
“No, because the 35-boys responsible for him tell 
him openly why he is not advanced. The other 
boys know the reason, too; so the boy knows he is 
justly rated. But he has a chance to redeem his 
record the next period.” j. j. d. 
THIS SOIL NEEDS LIME. 
OWN 50 acres of level bottom land along a river, on 
which I wish to raise hay crops year after year with¬ 
out rotation with any other crop. My present method 
of handling it is as follows: After the hay is cut 
I plow up about one-quarter of the tract each year, cul¬ 
tivate thoroughly, and harrow in about 1,000 pounds 
per acre of some commercial fertilizer, and seed it down 
with Timothy and Red-top, mixed. This will give a 
heavy crop, nearly all Timothy the next season. The 
second year, there will sometimes be a fair crop of 
Timothy and Red-top mixed, and sometimes there will 
be nothing but Red-top, the Timothy apparently having 
run out with one crop. The third year both Timothy 
and Red-top have nearly disappeared, and wild grasses 
and weeds have come in and the tract has a general 
run-out appearance. The soil is chiefly a black sandy 
loam of good depth. Is there any way of keeping up 
this land with commercial fertilizers so it will pro¬ 
duce a good crop of good quality hay, for more than 
two years in succession, without reseeding? I do not 
have any manure, and cannot get it without buying 
city manure at .$3 per ton. I have tried top-dressing 
with commercial fertilizer the third year, but could 
see no benefit from it. Are there any other grasses that 
will make good hay that would be more permanent 
than Timothy and Red-top? w. c. 
Connecticut. 
From your statement it seems to us that the trou¬ 
ble is a very sour soil. We should recommend the 
use of lime, at least one ton of burned and slaked 
lime to the acre when seeding down. The fact that 
the Timothy runs out so quickly, and that the wild 
grasses and weeds come in, indicates lack of lime 
as Red-top can stand a reasonably sour soil, while 
Timothy and clover are almost sure to be driven out 
of the land. On our own farm this trouble often 
occurs. We have frequently seeded Timothy and 
Juno 27, 
Red-top with a good dressing of fertilizer. The 
Timothy came in fairly well the first year, but soon 
died out; the Red-top survived perhaps a couple of 
years, and then disappeared. By the use of lime we 
have overcome this objection so that both Timothy 
and Red-top make a fair stand, and are able to use 
to advantage an application of fertilizer*. We should 
not attempt seeding with other grasses. Timothy 
and Red-top are the most available grasses for your 
section, but you must feed the soil for them, and 
in your case lime will be necessary. Lime your soil 
properly and you can easily keep up its fertility for 
grass growing without the use of stable manure, 
but unless you use a fair amount of lime under your 
conditions, the grasses cannot make the proper use 
of the chemicals. 
CLEANING OUT THE FLIES. 
I AM anxious to eliminate, so far as possible, the 
flies from about the barns and house, and am look¬ 
ing for something with which to spray the manure 
piles and barns in order to kill the maggots. The 
spray material must be liquid and something that will 
not affect the fertilizer ingredients of the manure. 
Middleport, N. Y. c. c. s. 
A mixture of equal parts of acid phosphate and 
kainit is a good combination for the purpose. It is 
usually handled dry, scattered over the droppings 
in the stable, but it can be dissolved in water and 
used as a spray or put on with a sprinkling pot. 
These chemicals repel the flies, so that the eggs are 
not freely laid in the manure. The acid phosphate 
contains phosphoric acid, while the kainit carries 
potash, both of which go well with the manure as 
fertilizers. Yet the use of these chemicals will not 
entirely cure the fly pest, so long as manure piles 
are left where the flies can get at them. The sure 
plan for a house or hotel is to keep all the manure 
out of reach of the flies. This can be done by fit¬ 
ting up a shed or room with screened doors and 
windows so the flies cannot enter. The manure is 
wheeled into this room frequently and the doors 
kept shut. This keeps the flies away. While they 
may lay a few eggs in filth or other kinds of ma¬ 
nure, there will not be enough to cause trouble if 
the manure is sprayed and then kept behind these 
screened doors. Any stable or manure pile nearby 
which is not thus protected will breed and supply a 
great stock of flies. The one thing to remember is 
that the eggs are laid and hatched in horse manure. 
RYE IN A YOUNG ORCHARD. 
HEN I took possession of this place May 1, 
1914, I found between apple trees, eight and 
12 years old, Fall rye now (May 20) two feet 
high. I am told by some it would be bad to 
let it mature. It was put in for the hens (200). As 
the young trees are looking fine I do not want to set 
them back. Will the rye be too strong for them? The 
land is in good shape. I have 1,500 apple and 500 
peach trees, and they have practiced the sod mulch 
system here. The question is what to do with the rye. 
New Hampshire. c. c. V. 
Our experience has been that one of the worst 
things you can do is to let a crop like rye go to full 
head in a young fruit orchard. The damage is 
much worse, of course, in a dry time than when 
there is an abundance of moisture, but in a dry 
season a crop of rye thus maturing will put the 
young trees back in their growth for at least two 
years. We have tried this several times, and never 
found it to fail. The rye is peculiar among grains 
in its ability to take the moisture out of the 
ground rapidly after it forms its head. We have 
now an instance of this ability which has worked 
out to our advantage. A crop of rye growing on a 
soggy and poorly drained field has taken the moist¬ 
ure out of the soil so rapidly that we were able to 
work it two weeks in advance of a field of the 
same type left bare through the Winter. We should 
either cut that rye after it forms the head, and 
rake and pile the material around the trees, or else 
plow the whole thing directly into the ground. Use 
a fair quantity of lime, pack the furrows down 
hard with a roller, and keep the upper surface thor¬ 
oughly worked until it is fine and open. We should 
then plant corn between the young trees, or if some 
poultry food is desired we should plant a combina¬ 
tion of buckwheat and clover, late in June, and 
turn the poultry in when the grain began to form. 
The rye will not amount to much as a poultry food. 
The hens are not fond of it, and will not usually 
eat the whole grain unless they are starved to it, 
while they will eat the buckwheat readily. If you 
have stock, and especially cows, the rye can be cut 
early and cured into hay. It does not make a 
high-class fodder, but the stock will eat part of it 
at least, and the remainder can be used fior bedding, 
but at any rate do not let this rye go to maturity 
among those young trees. Cut it or plow it under 
as soon as you can. Either pile it around the trees, 
or cure it as a hay, but at any rate never let it 
grow beyond the head in a young orchard* 
