vanadium ores, manganese, coal, nitrate of soda, borate of lime,
iodine, sulphur, wheat and guano. Nitrate of soda forms from 70 to 75%
of the exports, and the royalty received from it is the principal
source of national revenue, yielding about L4,000,000 per annum. In
1904 mineral products made up fully seven-eighths of the exports,
while agricultural and pastoral products did not quite reach
one-eighth.

_Agriculture._--According to the census returns about one-half the
population of Chile lives in rural districts, and is engaged nominally
in agricultural pursuits. What may be called central Chile is
singularly well adapted to agriculture. The northern part of this
region has a sub-tropical climate, light rainfall and a long, dry
summer, but with irrigation it produces a great variety of products.
Alfalfa, or lucerne (_Medicago sativa_), is grown extensively for
shipment to the mining towns of the desert provinces. There were no
less than 108,384 acres devoted to it in 1904, a considerable part of
which was in the irrigated river valleys of Coquimbo and Aconcagua.
Considerable attention is also given to fruit cultivation in these
subtropical provinces, where the orange, lemon, fig, melon, pineapple
and banana are produced with much success. Some districts, especially
in Coquimbo, have gained a high reputation for the excellence of their
preserved fruits. The vine is cultivated all the way from Atacama and
Coquimbo, where excellent raisins are produced, south to Concepcion,
where some of the best wines of Chile are manufactured. In 1904 there
were 93,370 acres devoted to grape production in this region, the
product for that year being 30,184,704 gallons of wine and 212,366
gallons of brandy. The universal beverage of the people--_chicha_--is
made from Indian corn. Although wheat is produced in the northern part
of this region, it is grown with greater success in the south, where
the rainfall is heavier and the average temperature is lower. There
were 1,044,025 acres devoted to this cereal in 1903, which produced
17,910,614 bushels, or an average of 17 bushels (of 60 lb) to the
acre. In 1904 the production was increased to 19,999,324 bushels, but
in 1905 it fell off to 15,771,477 bushels. At one time Chile supplied
Argentina and the entire West Coast as far north as California with
wheat, but Argentina and California have become wheat producers and