Nearly all of the reformatories for boys are located on large farms; one acre for each boy is considered a suitable amount. The farm is used partly as a means of vocational training, partly for the wholesome effect of life on the land, even for boys who will go back to city life, and partly to supply an abundance of good milk and fruit and vegetables. It is doubtful whether these farms are profitable from a commercial point of view, but the other considerations undoubtedly justify the location of such institutions upon farms.
It is indispensable to success in the work of the juvenile reformatory that the children shall be trained for life, first by normal living, as much like that of a good family as possible, with the best possible instruction in mind, manners, morals and religion; second, by a well devised and rational plan of vocational instruction.
The work of the juvenile reformatory. ay ways difficult, has been made doubly hard m recent years by two circumstances: First by the beneficent work of the juvenile court, with the probation system. Formerly the juvenile reformatory was the instrument of first aid, and many of its inmates were children guilty of minor offenses, who were readily impressed by the good influences of the industrial school. To-day the hopeful cases are placed on proba tion by the juvenile court. If they do not suc ceed, they may be placed on probation a second or a third time; and it is only after the proba tion system has proved ineffectual, that they are sent to a juvenile reformatory. The re sult is that children are committed from one to two years older than formerly, and are more familiar with evil and hardened by resistance to the restraining influences of home and Sunday school, day school and the juvenile court.
The second circumstance is the increasing proportion of defective children in the reforma tories. The probation plan fails with many of them and while normal children are paroled and make good, these poor children, lacking the intelligence and the will power to with stand evil, fail on parole, and are sent back. These "defective delinquent° children need an entirely different discipline and training. They clog up the schools and hinder their proper work. They should be sent to separate institu tions where they can be properly trained and cared for at a cost not more than two-thirds of that in a good reformatory.
Bibliography.— Annual reports of State Agricultural and Industrial School, Industry, N. Y.• Children's Village of the New York Juvenile Asylum, Chauncey, N. Y.• Glen Mills School, Glen Mills, Pa.; Saint Charles School for Boys, Saint Charles, Ill.; Sleighton Farm, Darling, Pa.; Home School for Girls, Sauk Centre, Minn.; New York State Probation Commission, Albany; Folks, Homer, of Destitute, Neglected and Delinquent Children' (New York 1902); George, William R., Junior Republic> (New York 1909) ; Hart, Hastings H., (Cottage and Congregate Insti tutions> (New York 1910); Hart, Hastings H., (Preventive Treatment of Neglected Chil dren) (New York 1910) • Rural Court Study, New York School of Philanthropy; Study of Connecticut Courts, Wm. B. Bailey, Yale Uni versity.