of national life under the tutelage and restraint of the child; but she is a lusty infant, promising a sturdy maturity, when once a suitable and acceptable guardian for her can be found.

A LAND OF LARGE ESTATES

The lands of Albania are largely owned by great proprietors. Many of the estates were in the hands of Turks before the

war.

Others of the great land-owners are Albanians, among them the powerful family of the Vlores, at Valona, which is said to possess over 150 square miles of land. This family, Vlora (flower), gives the name Valona to the town. As an indication of the upheaval due to war in Albania, it is interesting to note that one of the sons of this historic house is now interned in Sardinia; one is in the Italian army; one is in Switzerland, and a fourth in Constantinople. The great ancestral home stands lonely and neglected—a roosting place for storks.

Farm lands are worked to a great extent by tenants, but some are owned and cultivated by the villages or communities, which they surround, and the ownership of these is secure. But what of the lands owned by the absent Turk or Albanian, of whom, as in the case of the Vlora family, some are sympathizers with the Allies, others with Turk or Austrian? This question looms large in the future.

Albanians hold to the ancient methods of farming. The crooked stick, sometimes reinforced with iron, still serves as a plow, and a pair of small oxen or an ox and a buffalo draw the implement. A great iron hoe is used by the women to break the sod. The ground yields abundant return, producing in the valleys, especially of the south, good crops of rye, oats, barley, and corn (maize). But sheep and goats are almost the only wealth of the people who live on the mountain slopes.

Forests are few and the mountains, as a rule, are rocky, barren, and stern of aspect. Often, however, they are covered with a low, green scrub. Occasionally, high on the mountains one sees pines and firs, even among the snow fields.

The Turk has never spared trees, and as a consequence both Albania and Macedonia are almost denuded. Even in the

fertile valleys the oak, beech, poplar, and walnut are to be found in no great numbers. The plane tree is perhaps most conspicuous. Of fruits there are the mulberry, cherry, and pear, while in the Chimara, on the coast, the oranges and lemons are magnificent; and around Valona olive groves flourish and are well cared for by the Italians. Grapes which yield a fair wine are grown in Albania, and so, too, is tobacco.

NATIVES ARE STUDYING ON ITALY'S EXPERIMENTAL FARMS

By the application of modern farming methods the Albanian valleys of the south could be converted into veritable gardens. The Italians have made a beginning in the direction of training the Albanian farmer by means of experimental farms. The best of those that I have seen is at Valona. It is established in a valley north of the town, where there are some 400 acres under cultivation, producing wheat and such vegetables as onions, cabbages, and lettuce.

Excellent houses have been erected for the 35 farmer-soldiers detailed to cultivate this farm and instruct the natives, of whom about the same number are em

ployed. The latter are paid one lira per day, together with a little food, principally corn meal.

For the instruction of the country people, as well as for practical purposes, modern methods of cultivation are used and approved farm machinery employed, including an American plow and a gasoline-driven engine.

The farm this spring was only in its second season, but already an average of 4,000 lire per month was received from the sale of the produce, chiefly, of course, to the markets of Valona for use of the soldiers. The farmer-soldiers are also raising pigs, chickens, turkeys, and pigeons and are experimenting with hares.

This is a great work, intended primarily as an example to Albanian tenants and proprietors, who are given seed and farm machinery by the Italian Government, but are required in return to sell their produce for the use of the troops. Prices are fixed at a moderate rate; for instance, eggs for the officers' mess at Va

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 Ferraro, who is a great administrator and takes almost a boyish delight in this particular activity. I saw several other experiment farms: one at Liascoviki, in the heart of the mountains; one near Perati, at the junction of the Viosa and Sarandoporos rivers, and one in the rich valley of the Viosa, near Premati.

So the Italians have made a beginning,

T

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?

HE revolution in Russia has demonstrated to the world one fact long recognized by students of Russian affairs. It is that in the old Russian Empire there was little sense of nationalism or cohesiveness. While the racial homogeneity of the Slavs, the preponderant 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 AngloAmerican 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 otherwise 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 asking today. The Poles and the Lithuanians of a few centuries ago knew well this most turbulent section over which they attempted to rule, and Imperial Russia 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 today hardly realized that there was such a distinctive section left, living in the belief 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 sustenance. 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 vet 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 "bordermarches." For centuries it was the bul

wark that protected Poland and Lithuania. from the Tatars, Turks, and other migrating Orientals. As a result it has had cruel taskmasters.

The native population was largely Cossacks a wild and unruly people at that time. They were not originally a tribe, but were men who went forth into the wilderness to find freedom. The vast steppes, covered with grass to the height of a horse, within which a multitude of game lurked, lured them on.

on the crown, which was allowed to grow long enough to wind around the ears.

Although professing the Orthodox Greek faith, they were the brigands and the corsairs of Christianity. Though nominally subjects of Poland for a long time, the Ukrainians were constantly involving Poland in trouble with the Tatar and Turkish rulers. At times they even captured Polish peasants and sold them as slaves to the Tatars, who in turn passed them on to Persians.

CHMIELNICKI'S TERRIBLE REBELLION

PRIMITIVE GOVERNMENT REPUBLICAN IN FORM

The name Zaporogians was applied to the community that was the heart and soul of the great Ukraine. Their government was crude, but very republican in form. Each year the old officers laid down their duties in the presence of a general assembly, even in that day called. the Rada, and new ones were then chosen.

As any member of the tribe could be elevated to the highest office, it permitted each one to aspire to this dignity. The highest official was known as the "hetman." If unpopular, he was sometimes choked to death-an effective, if cruel, displacement.

They carried on an intermittent warfare with Tatars on the east, stealing their cattle and occasionally sacking the unprotected towns. Again, their warring excursions would be directed against the Turks to the southeast, in the Balkans. When tired of this they turned northward to the Slavonic population.

These early Ukrainians were ever at war with somebody and for somebody. They fought with Poland against Russia, with Russia against Poland, with Poland against Turkey, with Turkey against the Tatars. They assisted in placing an unfrocked monk upon the throne at Moscow. They were simply natural warriors who rejoiced in that occupation. warrior shaved his head except for a wisp

The

The most serious conflict waged by Poland with her rebellious Ukrainians was during an insurrection under Chmiel

ties perpetrated by the half-civilized hordes from the Ukraine were as barbarous as those of the American Indians during the onward march of the whites. The conditions existing here are vividly set forth by the famous Polish novelist, Henryk Sienkiewicz (who wrote many other splendid books besides "Quo Vadis," for which he is best known among Americans), in his novels covering different periods in Polish history.

Upon the failure of his rebellion Chmielnicki offered the annexation of Little Russia to Moscow. This offer was accepted in 1653, when it came under "the suzerainty of that growing empire. Always striving for complete independence, the Ukraine was never quite able to achieve it. Two wars with Poland resulted from that action.

It was more than a century after its incorporation before the entire province was brought into complete subjection by the developing Russian Empire. The "hetman" was maintained for some time; but this office was abolished by the vigorous Catherine the Great, and under her it became an integral part of the Empire.

The Ukraine's experiences with war and disaster would long ago have broken the spirit of a race gifted with less elastic temperament. There are elements in his temperament that enable him to stand much oppression without revolt. This characteristic may help the German in his attempts to make the Ukraine a subject nation.

The Little Russians have worked hard and fought hard, and they have emerged a fairly united and still vigorous people. The population increases more steadily than that of Great Russia, as the people are greatly attached to home and do not care to wander far from their native villages. They are great lovers of the soil and cling to it with a passionate tenacity.

EXTENT OF THE UKRAINE

The Ukraine includes southeastern Russia, with the exception of the province known as Bessarabia, which partakes of the character of the Balkan States and is peopled with Roumanians and Bulgarians. The great seaport of Odessa and surrounding country have been added to it under the new alignment.

The Ukraine does not reach much north of Kiev or east of Kharkov, but it is a large State in itself, about as large as the

German Empire, with some twenty-five or thirty millions of people living in it.

The largest city of the real Ukraine is Kiev, around which national life probably centers because of the deep relig

ious associations in connection with the shrines and many holy places. It was at one time the capital of all Russia. Kharkoy is the leading commercial town in it, unless Odessa, on the Black Sea, is considered.

About four million Ukrainians live in Austria, in the province of Galicia, and are there known as Ruthenians. They are exactly the same type of people as the majority of those living in the Ukraine and would be classed with them

ethnographically.

THE LURE OF THE STEPPES

There is a lure about the limitless stretches of the steppes in the Ukraine.