Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/527

 KUYTER RYE 503 7,000. It is the seat of a celebrated reforma- tory, which was opened by the government in 1849. Although under one direction, it is di- vided into three distinct schools, two for boys at Ruysselede and Wynghene, near each other, and one for girls at Beernem, about two miles distant. The children received are vagrants, truants, street beggars, and the like, not prop- erly criminals, but in danger of becoming so. The age of admission is from 7 to 18 years ; the term of committal is during minority ; the average stay is about three years, some going away in three months, while others remain eight or ten years. The institution is con- ducted on the congregate plan, the boys sleep- ing in large dormitories. The principal labor is farm work on 240 acres, including a kitch- en garden of 19 acres, with a large stock of horses, cows, sheep, and hogs, and model farm buildings. In winter various trades are car- ried on. The wool and flax grown on the farm are spun, woven, and made up into gar- ments; the straw is plaited and made into hats ; and the hides are tanned and shoes made. Even the table beer is brewed on the farm. The institution is not only entirely self- supporting, including the expenses of admin- istration, but in 1871 there was a net profit of 3,000 francs, and in the previous four years a total gain of 10,000 francs. In August, 1872, there were 522 boys at Ruysselede. At Wynghene there were 50 boys in training for a seafaring life, but also working on the farm and in the shops. The reformatory at Beer- nem, opened in 1853, contained in August, 1872, about 250 girls, chiefly employed in lace making, sewing, and laundry work. They are in charge of a religious sisterhood, but under the general superintendence of the director at Ruysselede. The girls gain in proportion to their number more than the boys, their earnings amounting to 100,000 francs a year. From 1849 to 1873 about 5,000 boys had been re- ceived. The present director, Eugene Poll, be- lieves that substantially all the children sent to Ruysselede are saved, as the percentage of those who turn out badly is almost zero. Rl YTKR, Michael Adriaenszoon de, a Dutch ad- miral, born in Flushing, Zealand, in 1607, died in Syracuse, Sicily, April 29, 1676. He was apprenticed by his parents to a shoemaker at the age of 11 years, but ran away and engaged as cabin boy, and gradually rose to the highest rank. When in 1641 Holland undertook to assist Portugal against Spain, De Ruyter, then rear admiral, commanded the Dutch fleet. In 1647 he attacked and sunk an Algerine squad- ron of four times his own number of vessels off the port of Sale. In 1652, England and Holland being at war, while convoying a fleet of merchantmen, he met the English fleet off Plymouth, and repulsed it, saving his entire convoy. During the next two years he com- manded a division of the Dutch fleet under Admiral Van Tromp, and fought two naval battles, one of which was successful. In 1655 he was again sent against the Algerine pirates, whom he chastised terribly, hanging at the yardarm the famous renegade, Armand de Diaz. In 1659 he was sent to the assistance of Denmark against Sweden, and for his ser- vices the Danish king ennobled him and his whole family. In 1665, war having again broken out between England and Holland, he was put in command of the fleet, but Prince Rupert confined him to the Dutch coast. In June, 1666, he gallantly fought the English for three days in the Irish sea, but eventually withdrew. In 1667 he renewed the attack, ascended the Thames as far as the Medway, burned the shipping at Sheerness, and com- pelled England to sign a treaty of peace at Breda. In 1671 De Ruyter was put in com- mand of the fleet in the war against France and England, and in 1 672 fought the combined fleet long and obstinately, but without decisive results. In 1675 he was sent to the Mediter- ranean to aid the Spaniards against the French, and in 1676 fought a desperate battle against a greatly superior French force under Admiral Duquesne off the E. coast of Sicily, and was finally worsted, and retreated with his fleet into the harbor of Syracuse. He lost both legs in the fight, and died of his wounds. RYCAl'T, Sir Paul. See RICAUT. RYE, a cereal grain, secale cereale, much cul- tivated in temperate climates. The genus se- cale belongs to the subtribe of grasses with wheat and barley (hordeinece) in which the inflorescence is in a dense spike, the spikelets being sessile at the joints of a zigzag rachis ; the chief botanical difference between rye and wheat is that in the former the spikelets are only two-flowered, with the abortive rudiment of a third flower, while in wheat the spikelets have three to several perfect flowers ; the low- er palets of the flowers of rye are long-awned, and the grain is brown. As with other culti- vated grain, the origin of rye is uncertain ; De Candolle thinks the evidence points to the country between the Alps and the Black sea as its native region. It appears to have varied less under cultivation than any other grain, there being only two recognized varieties, the winter and spring, produced as with wheat by the manner of cultivating; it succeeds upon a much poorer soil than wheat, and is well suited to those light sandy soils which will profitably produce neither wheat nor barley. The cultivation of rye does not differ from that of wheat ; it is sown in September, at the rate of one to two bushels to the acre ; it is sometimes sown among Indian corn, the seed being covered with a cultivator or hoe, leaving the surface as level as possible ; the corn is cut as soon as ready and removed to one side of the field, and the rye thoroughly rolled. The straw of rye is often of more value than the grain, and hence great care is taken of it in harvesting ; it is frequently cut with the cradle, and in order to keep the straw unbroken thrashed with a flail ; the straw is