ley and
rye are the usual cereals; fruits and vegetables are abundant; and
considerable quantities of hemp, flax, hops and tobacco are raised. The
breeding of sheep receives much attention, and the province exports wool
in considerable quantity. Bees are largely kept, and there is an
abundance of game. The rivers and lakes also furnish fish, particularly
carp, of excellent quality. The climate is cold and raw in winter,
excessively hot in summer, and there are frequently violent storms of
wind. The manufacturing industry of the province is both varied and
extensive, but is for the most part concentrated in the principal towns.
The most important branches are the spinning and weaving of wool and
cotton, the manufacturing of paper, and the distillation of brandy. Pop.
(1895) 2,821,695; (1905) 3,529,839.

BRANDENBURG, a town of Germany, capital of the district and province of
same name, on the river Havel, 36 m. S.W. from Berlin, on the main line
to Magdeburg and the west. Pop. (1905) 51,251, including 3643 military.
The town is enclosed by walls, and is divided into three parts by the
river--the old town on the right and the new town on the left bank,
while on an island between them is the "cathedral town,"--and is also
called, from its position, "Venice." Many of the houses are built on
piles in the river. There are five old churches (Protestant), all more
or less noteworthy. These are the Katharinenkirche (nave 1381-1401,
choir c. 1410, western tower 1583-1585), a Gothic brick church with a
fine carved wooden altar and several interesting medieval tombs; the
Petrikirche (14th century Gothic); the cathedral (Domkirche), originally
a Romanesque basilica (1170), but rebuilt in the Gothic style in the
14th century, with a good altar-piece (1465), &c., and noted for its
remarkable collection of medieval vestments; the Gothardskirche, partly
Romanesque (1160), partly Gothic (1348); the Nikolaikirche (12th and
13th centuries), now no longer used. There is also a Roman Catholic
church. Of other buildings may be mentioned the former town hall of the
"old town" (Altstadt Rathaus), built in the 13th and 14th centuries, now
used as government offices; the new Real-gymnasium; and the town hall in
the Neustadt, before which, in the market-place, stands a Rolandssaule,
a colossal figure 18 ft. in height, hewn out of a single block of stone.
A little north of the town is the Marienberg, or Harlungerberg, on which
the heathen temp