THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



111 



P. Sc 



ITALIAN SOLDIERS ARE} TEACHING ALBANIANS THE ADVANTAGES OE* 

 MODERN HUSBANDRY 



Under the direction of General Ferraro, several up-to-date experimental farms have 

 been established in southern Albania and the natives are being taught to use the most 

 improved farm implements, such as American plows, cultivators, and harrows. In the valley 

 of Monastir the British also are introducing modern agricultural methods; one of their army 

 farms has an area of 1,000 acres. 



magnificent 55-mile turnpike from Valona 

 to Tepeleni and the highway from Santi 

 Ouaranta to Valona. The latter is proba- 

 bly one of the most interesting- examples 

 of road-building to be found the world 

 over. It was constructed, under the di- 

 rection of General Ferraro, by Italian sol- 

 diers and several thousand Austrian 

 prisoners, aided by the Albanians of the 

 country-side, who were paid by the Ital- 

 ian Government. It extends 81 miles, for 

 the most part along the Adriatic, but high 

 above the sea. Built for the permanent 

 use of the people of southern Albania, 

 as much as for military purposes, it is, 

 like the old Roman roads, made to last 

 through the centuries, and this is one of 

 the superb highways of the world, both 

 in point of construction and outlook. It 

 was sufficiently completed for motor 

 travel in the remarkably short time of 

 about 67 days. 



There is today a good metalled high- 

 way running from Valona all the way 

 across the Balkan Peninsula to Saloniki, 

 a distance of 363 miles. It is the old 

 Turkish Highway which had long lain 

 neglected and had become almost impass- 

 able in places, but which is now kept in 

 excellent repair by the troops and money 

 of Italy, France, and Great Britain. 



It is almost impossible to conceive of 

 the existence of a railroad in Albania ; yet 

 with the development of the country rail- 

 roads will come, and who can doubt that 

 this war, terrible and destructive as it is, 

 will bring with it into the shadowy re- 

 gions of the world the torch of enlighten- 

 ment and progress? 



Albania needs light and help from the 

 great people of the earth. Too long has 

 she lain in darkness, with the hands of 

 her neighbors always at her throat. It is 

 no wonder that she gropes in the infancy 



