THE MENNONITE BROTHERHOOD IN RUSSIA (1789 - 1910), P. M. Friesen, 1911

er elevations, all villages are located in the valleys, so that they can seldom be seen before one is very close to them. Einlage and Kronsweide lie between rocks and cliffs right on the banks of the Dnieper. An attempt has been made to utilize the water gathered in the valleys to power water mills, though with little success. For when the snow melts in the spring and heavy rains fall, the too rapidly rising water levels often break the dams, while in the summer water is totally absent. g) The soil is everywhere very fertile, as the lush growth of grass in the valleys demonstrates, and produces good crops with little or even Documentary Supplement 185 poor cultivation if only the weather is suitable. Often, however, extended droughts dash the best of hopes. The Old Colony has a decided advantage in that it owns, communally, a small forest on the island of Chortitza which provides the settlers with both lumber and fuel. Even the gorges and valleys are largely covered with bushes. h) The emperor (“the crown”) has donated many sheep of better breeds to the settlers, from which they have already developed good-sized flocks. The wool is processed in the factories in Ekaterino- slav . — Community sheep raising. i) A three-and-a-half bushel measure of wheat sells for fifteen to seventeen rubles, rye for five to seven rubles, barley for four to six rubles. The price of wheat is relatively high because the yield is seldom good [!!] and all of it is bought up for export. k) It may not be amiss to mention here that a number of ditches and scattered bricks on a knoll between the two villages of Chortitza and Rosen tal mark the place where the imperial favorite Count Potemkin’s palace stood, in which he entertained his empress thirty years ago. l) The entire journey from West Prussia to Chortitza took twenty days. We travelled by way of Ostroblenka, Brest-Litovsk, Kavel, Ostrag in Volynia— where the oldest Mennonite colony Meveritz, with its two villages, is located [today only remnants remain of them due to massive migration to America]— Berkitschev, Slatopolie, and Elisavetgrad. Up to Mirigrod [Novy-Mirgorod?], just before Elisavetgrad, there were inns with sheds (“Saray”) under which the wagons were driven. [Then and now!] m) Statistical overview of the Chortitza Colony, 1819: Population: 560 families; 2,888 persons; 181 births; 69 deaths, and thirty weddings. Animals: 2,582 horses; 6,090 cattle; 11,774 sheep; 2,070 pigs, and so much fowl that most of the owners could not cite a figure, with a total of 32,684 dessiatines of land. Implements: 345 plows [for 560 families!!]; 542 harrows; 532 wagons. Home industrial equipment: 557 spinning wheels; 49 looms; 5 oil presses. Forestry and orchards: 25,546 mulberry trees; 8,520 improved apple, pear, plum and peach trees; 16,988 cherry trees; 4,721 wild apples, pear and plum trees; 80 walnut and hazelnut trees; 954 grape plants; 890 acacia and poplar