LIFE OF ELIE METCHNIKOFF 113 



met by administrative opposition which nearly 

 wrecked our plan, under the pretext that it was 

 intended for political propaganda. And though 

 cordial relations were established from the first 

 between Metchnikoff and the peasantry, many com- 

 plications were unavoidable, due to the general 

 agrarian situation, to the insufficiency of the peasants' 

 allotments, and to their primitive methods of culti- 

 vation. 



My father, whose property was in the province of 

 Kieff, had inherited another domain in that of 

 Kherson ; Metchnikoff therefore had to manage both 

 estates and to adapt himself to their very different 

 respective circumstances. The maj ority of the farmers 

 in Little Russia at that time were Jews and were 

 beginning to be persecuted both by the Government 

 and by the peasants ; Elie was constantly obliged to 

 intervene. In the province of Kherson, it was a 

 tradition with the peasants that the land should 

 belong to them, and they imagined that this could 

 be brought about by the simple elimination of the 

 farmers. Therefore they inflicted constant vexations 

 upon the latter, allowing cattle to pasture in their 

 crops, pulling up their beetroots, etc. Metchnikoff 

 attempted in vain to re-establish peace by means of 

 compromise ; he persuaded a farmer to sub-let part 

 of the land to the peasants, but this had to be given 

 up, for the latter did not carry out their engagements. 

 Relations between the farmers and^the peasants were 

 getting worse and worse, and Metchnikoff, foreseeing 

 a catastrophe, warned the local administration that 

 the situation was getting very grave and would lead 

 to irreparable consequences. He was merely told that 

 preventive measures would be useless ; hereupon the 



