Feeding the Hungry, P. C. Hiebert, 1929

ulties, all these militated against us in the undertaking. ‘But whenever it was possible to plow, when there was: not too much rain or frost—we plowed.” “On December 1 the season closed. In Chortitza. we had been able to work nearly two-thirds of the time,, in Halbstadt only about one-half the time. Notwith- standing all these hindrances and difficulties the 25 outfits had plowed 3201 acres of land for the farmers, 182 acres for institutions, 944 acres for the A.M.R.; and put out 48 acres of rye for others, and 714 acres for the A.M.R.” THe A.M.R. Grain RAIsING VENTURE When first the American tractors arrived in Russia, the Soviet officials were so enthused about the matter that they were willing to put large tracts of land at the disposal of the A.M.R. for the purpose of producing grain for distribution in famine districts, instead of relying on the: importation of the same, as had been done through the: American Relief Administration in the previous year. Our workers accepted this reasonable and practical plan.. They plowed and sowed rye in both of the Ukrainian. Districts where the tractors had been operating the first fall. Of the Molotschna we have the following report which in most particulars was similar in the Chortitza, Orenburg, and Samara districts. Our tractors plowed, sowed, and harvested by the aid of American binders, which were still on hand from the time of prosperity, 714 acres of rye, the grain which can best cope with the rigors of a cold winter. Even though it was rather late when our grain got into the ground, the timely rains assisted in producing a fair crop the following summer. Our American harvesting was most extraordinary in the eyes of the natives, for in the Ukraine: 300 FEEDING THE HUNGRY grain had never been cut with binders drawn by tractors. At first the people were skeptical, and feared that the tractors would ruin their binders, but after they saw the wonderful progress that was made, anxiety was converted into admiration and wonder. In a few days the grain was cut and we were ready for threshing. But here we had to rely upon a Russian machine because no American machine was available. We therefore rented a steam thresher from the Mennonites, hired Mennonite people to do the work, and had the grain in the storehouse at Halbstadt within thirteen days. The whole amount of rye threshed was 7749 Pud, or $166 bushels. Of this amount 1599 bushels were given as payment for work, purchase of supplies and rental of machinery; and the remaining 3467 bushels were used in the general feeding. Besides this valuable grain we had 302 wagonloads of straw and 70 loads of chaff. Both the straw and the chaff were given to poor families, who had not the means of producing feed for their stock. RussIAN REACTIONS TO THE TRACTOR WorRK The following is an extract from a translation of a letter received from the Tractor Committee of Halbstadt, and shows the estimate