about 20x32 feet; its former size was about 13x22 feet. It contains, on an average, about twenty-six children, ranging from a few months to five years of age. This room is perfectly clean and neat, with whitewashed walls and well painted floor. The children looked bright, intelligent, and were well dressed. The playground is upon the west side of the building, and to it the children have access at all times when the weather will permit. The larger children are allowed outside this yard every pleasant day. The insane asylum for females contained, at the time of inspection, sixty-four inmates. There are thirty-seven sleeping rooms, besides sixteen beds in one attic and fourteen in another. There is no classification of patients. The building, in addition to the rooms mentioned, contains a large dining-room, which presented a neat and tidy appearance. The rooms were all in very good condition.

The asylum for men, as before remarked, is an old building, improperly constructed, and in every way poorly adapted to its requirements. But very few persons are confined in this building, as many of the men are able to do some work upon the farm during the day.

The old men's home contains eleven rooms on the first floor and twelve on the second. Several beds are also placed in the attic, although not at all times occupied. The building is clean and neat, and is a source of much comfort to the old men who Occupy it.

The old ladies' home was also found to be in good condition throughout. In the upper story of this building is the schoolroom, which contains forty-four chairs and desks, and was neat and clean, and had maps and instructive mottoes upon the walls.

The value of whitewash in an institution of this character is thoroughly recognized by the superintendent, and two of the inmates are kept at work with the whitewash brush during a considerable part of the time. This adds greatly to the cleanliness and healthfulness of the institution.

All the cooking is done in the basement of the main building by steam.

Among the improvements now needed are the following:

1. A new sewer system. The present system is exceedingly

faulty, and this Board has twice reported adversely upon it. In 1883 and 1888, in the published reports of those years, the system was criticised as faulty and unsuitable for the institution. The criticism then made still holds good, except that we believe after the report of 1883 some traps were put in, which rendered the sewer less offensive. The sewer takes only the waste water and slops of the institution and discharges in the open field quite a distance from the buildings. The privies of the institution, of which there are four, are a constant nuisance, and very objectionable. There is a manhole connected with the sewer in the center of the yard, into which slops and waste water from some of the buildings are poured. This was found to be in an offensive condition and is an unqualified nuisance. The county should put in a complete and perfect system of sewers, including water-closets for the various departments, and abandon the privies. At an institution like this, privies, at the very best, are a constant nuisance.

2. Greater protection against fire is needed. There is no water pressure that would be of any service whatever in case of fire. The commissioners have attempted to provide means for extinguishing fires, by placing pails of water upon shelves at convenient points. This arrangement would offer no protection in case a fire got under headway before being discovered. A large tank of water in the roof of the main building, with distributing pipes for the other buildings and to such points in the main building as might be thought advisable, and provided with permanently attached hose, would greatly lessen the danger of an extensive conflagration.

There are other improvements which will doubtless suggest themselves to the commissioners, among which is the painting of the outside of the main building.

Aside from the criticisms made, the institution is in an excellent condition, and it is evident that no trouble is spared by the superintendent and matron, Mr. and Mrs. J. Garvin to make this a comfortable home for the unfortunate inmates. The institution contained two hundred and seventy-five inmates and eleven prisoners at the time of the inspection.

CHESHIRE COUNTY ALMSHOUSE.

This institution consists of a three-story main house and a twostory L, both of which are substantially built of brick. It is located at Westmoreland, on the Connecticut river, and has connected with it a large and fertile farm. The buildings were constructed about twenty-two years ago, and at that time it was undoubtedly the best appointed almshouse in the State; the rooms are of ample size, and the arrangement convenient.

The main building is divided longitudinally into two parts for the sexes, and the two departments are constructed very much alike. On the first floor in the L is the kitchen for both wards; the cooking is done over a large range in which coal is used. Hot and cold water are provided for all parts of the building. In the main house, on each side of the division, are dining-room, hall, sitting-room, sinkroom, bathroom, and closets, on the first floor. On the second floor of the house, on the female side, are two large sleeping rooms, one with eight beds and the other with nine. On the male side, the arrangement is substantially the same, with seven beds in one room and six in the other. In the third story, on the female side, are the chapel and several sleeping rooms; on the other side, a sleeping room containing six beds for the men. On the fourth floor are eleven sleeping rooms, originally designed for prisoners, but since the construction of a county jail at Keene they have been used mostly for sleeping rooms by the inmates.

All the bedsteads in the institution are of iron with thin wooden slats running lengthwise of the bed; on this is a straw mattress and the usual amount of bed clothing. All the rooms seemed to be well cared for, and although the inspection was made early in the morning, the premises were found to be in very passable condition.

The institution contains a very intelligent class of inmates as a whole, and what was more particularly noticeable was the fact that they were nearly all Americans, and most of them had passed their entire lifetime within the county. Among the old men and women present were many faces that indicated a very large degree of intelligence, and but for some misfortune they would not have been found at an institution of this kind.