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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



lona cost about 14 cents a dozen, whereas 

 in Rome they sell for 50 cents. 



The success of the Valona experimental 

 farm is due to the efforts of General Fer- 

 raro, who is a great administrator and 

 takes almost a boyish delight in this par- 

 ticular activity. I saw several other ex- 

 periment farms : one at Liascoviki, in the 

 heart of the mountains ; one near Perati, 

 at the junction of the Viosa and Sarando- 

 poros rivers, and one in the rich valley 

 of the Viosa, near Premati. 



So the Italians have made a beginning, 



and a good one, in training the Albanians 

 in improved methods of agriculture. 

 But time and opportunity are necessary. 

 Much has been done, considering that this 

 is a period of war, and that all work of 

 improvement behind the lines depends on 

 conclusions fought out in front of them. 



Who knows how much would have been 

 done by the Italians for the improvement 

 of Albania if they could have used both 

 hands instead of being compelled to fight 

 with one while they worked with the 

 other? 



THE UKRAINE, PAST AND PRESENT 



By Nevin O. Winter 



THE revolution in Russia has dem- 

 onstrated to the world one fact 

 long recognized by students of 

 Russian affairs. It is that in the old Rus- 

 sian Empire there was little sense of na- 

 tionalism or cohesiveness. While the 

 racial homogeneity of the Slavs, the pre- 

 ponderant element of the population, has 

 always been most pronounced, the term 

 Russia meant little to the vast majority 

 of the people. There was nothing that 

 could compare with the love of the Anglo- 

 American for the Stars and Stripes, of 

 the Frenchman for his beloved France, 

 of the Anglo-Saxon for Great Britain. 



With the passing of the Czar and the 

 authority of the church the only forces 

 of cohesion disappeared. Were it other- 

 wise it would not be possible for so many 

 separations of large sections to follow 

 without an apparent pang on the part of 

 those still left or those going out for 

 themselves. 



It was but natural that Finland should 

 revolt, for the Finns are not even Slavs. 

 But in the case of Little Russia, or the 

 Ukraine, there is a story that is worth 

 the telling. 



What is the Ukraine? This is one of 

 the many questions that people are ask- 

 ing today. The Poles and the Lithua- 

 nians of a few centuries ago knew well 

 this most turbulent section over which 

 they attempted to rule, and Imperial Rus- 

 sia for a long time was greatly troubled 



by this very unruly part of her expansive 

 domain. The Tatars and the Turks felt 

 its proximity because of the many raids 

 made upon them by the wild warriors of 

 the steppes. 



In recent years the Ukraine has quieted 

 down, so that the casual students of to- 

 day hardly realized that there was such 

 a distinctive section left, living in the be- 

 lief that the Slavs of the Ukraine, or 

 Little Russia, as it is better known, had 

 become thoroughly amalgamated with the 

 Great Russians of the Petrograd and 

 Moscow sections. The events of the last 

 few months, however, have revealed the 

 real situation. 



The Ukraine has had a troublesome 

 career. The wild Scythians helped to 

 feed ancient Greece and her colonies 

 from these same endless steppes whence 

 Germany now expects to draw suste- 

 nance. A thousand years ago Kiev was 

 already becoming an important place. 

 When the Saxons still ruled England, in 

 the long ago, the banks of the Dnieper 

 were a meeting-place for many races, 

 drawn thither by commerce. Religious 

 differences had not yet arisen, for all 

 were worshippers of idols. Even then a 

 Slav people were safely established here, 

 sowing and reaping their harvests and 

 sending their surplus grain down this 

 river to the Black Sea. 



The name Ukraine means "border- 

 marches." For centuries it was the bul- \ 



