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MARYLAND 227 cash in the treasury. The balance to the credit of the oyster fund was $272,014 14; receipts during the year, $65,490 55; expenditures, $24,770 75; both included in the receipts and expenditures given above. The state institu- tions are the penitentiary, the institution for the instruction of the blind, and that for the colored blind and deaf mutes, in Baltimore; the hospital for the insane, at Spring Grove, near Catonsville, Baltimore co. ; and the insti- tution for the education of the deaf and dumb, at Frederick. The penitentiary is under the management of a board of six directors, with six officers in immediate charge. The number of convicts in prison during the year ending Nov. 30, 1873, was 824, of whom 226 were re- ceived during the year ; remaining at its close, 614, viz. : white males, 211 ; white females, 6 ; colored males, 361; colored females, 36. The convicts are employed in the prison, but the la- bor of the greater part is let to contractors, who manufacture shoes, harnesses, clothing, coo- perage, marble work, &c. The earnings in 1873 amounted to $71,104 50, producing a surplus of more than $5,000 over the expenditures. The hospital for the insane was established in Baltimore in 1828. In 1852 the legislature pro- vided for the erection of the present building, which remaining uncompleted and encumbered with a heavy debt in 1870, the old hospital was sold, and the proceeds, with an appropriation of $330,000 from the state treasury, devoted to its completion. The patients were removed to it in 1872. It is capable of accommodating 300. The institution is under the management of a president and board of visitors, with four resi- dent officers. The number of inmates during 1873 was 238; remaining at the close of the year, 127, of whom 70 were males and 57 fe- males, 57 private and 70 public patients ; 102 were chronic cases, 13 acute mania, 9 epileptic, and 3 mania apotu. Aside from such appro- priations as the legislature may make, the in- come is derived from the receipts from the counties for pauper patients and from private patients. The institution for the instruction of the blind was opened in 1854. The num- ber of pupils under instruction during the year ending Dec. 1, 1873, was 55 ; remaining at that date, 47, of whom 7 were from the District of Columbia and supported by the United States ; number of officers and instruc- tors, 10. Besides reading, &c., the boys receive instruction in piano tuning and broom ma- king, and the girls in sewing, knitting, &c. The age of admission is between 9 and 18 years, and pupils may be educated at the expense of the state, upon the recommendation of the gov- ernor. The institution for the education of the deaf and dumb was established in 1868, and was accommodated in barracks until the completion of the centre and south wing of the new building in the beginning of 1873. The north wing is not yet erected (1874). The number of pupils under instruction in 1873 was 99 (62 males and 37 females) ; remaining at the close of the year, 87 ; number of officers and instructors, 16; volumes in the library, 2,000. Instruction is given in articulation and lip reading, and in shoemaking, as well as in the common branches of learning by the ordinary methods. The age of admission is from 9 to 21 years, and pupils may be educated at the pub- lic expense upon the certificate of the orphans' court or commissioners of the county in which they reside. The institution for the colored blind and deaf mutes was established in 1872, and in 1874 had 5 officers and instructors and 23 pupils, of whom 10 were deaf mutes and 13 blind. The house of refuge for juvenile delin- quents, near Baltimore, was opened in 1855. The boys receive instruction in the rudiments of learning and in various industries. A " house of merit" is connected with it, in which the younger and less vicious are separately classi- fied. The institution is mainly supported by state and city appropriations. The number of inmates during 1873 was 411; remaining at the close of the year, 301. An act of 1874 pro- vides for the establishment of a house of cor- rection for convicts sentenced for not less than three months nor more than three years. The constitution requires the general assembly to establish a system of free public schools, and to provide for its maintenance by taxation or otherwise. The act of 1872 constitutes a state board of education, a board of county school commissioners for each county, and a board of district school trustees for each school district, to have general control of the public schools in their respective jurisdictions. The state board consists of the principal of the state normal school ex officio, together with four persons appointed for two years by the governor, with the consent of the senate, from among the presidents and examiners of the county boards, one of whom must be a resident of the east- ern shore. The county boards consist of three or five members, and are appointed for two years by the judges of the circuit courts. They elect a person, not of their number, to act as secretary, treasurer, and examiner, and an as- sistant examiner in the larger counties when necessary. The schools are free to all white youth between the ages of 6 and 21 years, and at least one is directed to be kept open in each district for ten months in the year. The teachers must be graduates of the normal school, or have a certificate of competency from the county examiner or the state board. Teachers' institutes are required to be held once a year for five days in each county, under the direction of the county examiner and the principal or a professor of the normal school. The act empowers the mayor and council of the city of Baltimore to establish a system of free public schools, and to appoint a board of commissioners of public schools for that city. Separate free schools are estab- lished in each election district for colored chil- dren between the ages of 6 and 20 years, for the support of which are set apart such sums