and which is concerned with the general management of the colony, and with the provision of common services, such as water and lighting, the school and the synagogue, the reading room and the club.
§ 15. The Jewish Colonies.
The Jewish agricultural colonies have grown up in the course of the last forty years and show a level of agricultural and scientific development far in advance of anything else of the kind in Palestine. They established themselves in many cases on uncultivated and unpromising land and have transformed it into extensively cultivated and remunerative plantations. They drained swamps, planted eucalyptus and pines, cultivated the vine, and greatly developed the orange trade of Jaffa.
There are at present 61 of these colonies, large and small, with a population of about 17,000. The colonies are grouped in four districts as follows:—
In Judaea there are 21, viz. Mikveh-Israel, Rishon le Zion, Ber-Jacob, Ness-Zionah, Rehoboth, Ekron, Gederah, Ber-Tobia, Ruhama, Petach-Tikvah, Ain-Ganim, Kfar-Mlal (ain-Hai), Kfar-Saba, Ben-Shemen, Hulda, Kfar Urieh, Artuf, Mozah, Kiryath Anavim (Dilb), Kalandiah and Nahlath-Yehudah. In Samaria there are 10, viz. Hederah, Hefzi-bah, Kerkur, Gan-Shmuel, Zicron-Yacob, Marah, Shveyah, Bath-Shlomon, Giveath-Binyamin (Shuni) and Athlit. In Lower Galilee there are 20, viz. Nahalul, Merhaviah, Balfouria, Ein-Harod, Giveath-Yeheskiel, Tel Yossef, Sedshera, Kfar-Tabor (Mesha), Yabneel (Yemma), Beth-Gan, Rama (Sarona), Poriah, Mizpah, Kinereth, Daganiah, Hittin, Migdal, Tel-Adas, Bethaniah and Menahamiah. In Upper Galilee there are 10, viz. Rosh-Pinah, Pekiin, Ayeleth-Hashachar, Mahnaim, Mishmar-Hayarden, Yessod Hamaalah, Ein-Zeitim, Kfar-Gileady, Tel-Hai and Metullah. Most of the colonies are provided with schools, synagogue, library, town hall, hospital, pharmacy and public baths. Of the above-mentioned the following
