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

trees; 32,730 willows and forest trees. Buildings: 476 residences; two churches; twenty-two windmills; one watermill; three groats mills; one beer brewery; one brandy distillery. 186 IN RUSSIA 1789-1860 Silk industry: silk produced in the homes to the amount of thirteen pounds and 210 grams, and on the plantation (Rosental), eight pounds and eighty grams. Price per pound was fifteen rubles. Artisans: two watchmakers; nine wood turners; ten coopers; eighty-eight cabinet makers; twenty-six carpenters; sixteen blacksmiths; forty-nine weavers; one painter; twenty -five tailors; twenty cobblers and as many millers, oil press workers, distillers and brewers as there were establishments. 2. The "New Colony" [Molotschna District ] from 1807 to 1817 (Supplement to HH 33 and 56) a) At the break of day [writes a traveller 99 coming from Orechov via Tokmak in 1807] we came around a mountain and caught sight of the six houses that bear the name Prischib. This is the home of the inspector of the Molotschna colonies, at present the young Baron Uexkuell, who had studied in Germany. He very oblingingly afforded us the opportunity to look around this region so suited to grain and vegetable growing. On the right bank of the Molotschna lie the colonies founded by the Wuerttembergers, the Germans, the Poles, the West Prussians, the Hessians [from Nassau], and the East and South Prussians [the so-called Molotschna Colonial District, most heavily populated by Lutherans and some Catholics]. b) In order to acquaint ourselves with the conditions pertaining in the colony we first drove to Tokmak where the annual fair was just being held. A bridge is built over the arm of the river here which leads to the first Mennonite colonies. Driving from one to the other, we visited eighteen settlements in three days and were received with pleasure by this diligent and industrious little group of people. Because they have only begun to develop this region since 1805 [1804!], the Mennonites had not yet begun to engage in those handicrafts which were not absolutely essential. Their houses, barns, granaries, gardens and fields witness to their love of order and industry. They had come with their own wagons, some of them being drawn by from five to seven of their own horses, carrying such beautiful furniture as: chests, closets, chairs, tables, bedsteads made of walnut wood, so that their homes were quite appealing. Many had sold their property [in Prussia] for thirty to forty thousand guilders, and each one could proudly affirm that he had paid his ten percent emigration dues honestly. Sixty -three of the 322 families had not accepted the advance money offered by the Russian government, and what is more, eighty-nine families had each brought from ten to twenty thousand ducats in cash with them with which they now supported their poorer brethren. [Many very poor families followed later, partially funded by the Prussian congregation