proprietors, who number more than two-thirds of the population.
Coffee, first planted in 1838, is grown chiefly on the plateau of San
Jose. The special adaptability of this region to its growth is
attributed to the nature of the soil, which consists of layers of black
or dark-brown volcanic ash, varying in depth from 1 to 6 yds. Bananas
are grown over a large and increasing area; rice, maize, barley,
potatoes and beans are cultivated to some extent in the interior; cocoa,
vanilla, sugar-cane, cotton and indigo are products of the warm
coast-lands, but are hardly raised in sufficient quantities to meet the
local demand. Stock-farming, a relatively undeveloped industry, tends to
become more important, owing to the assistance which the state renders
by the importation of horses, cattle, sheep and swine, from Europe and
the United States, in order to improve the native breeds. In the
south-east farmers are often compelled to retire with their flocks and
herds before the thousands of huge, migratory vampires, which descend
suddenly on the pastures and are able in one night to bleed the
strongest animal to death. The manufactures are insignificant; and
although silver, copper, iron, zinc, lead and marble are said to exist
in considerable quantities, the only ores that have been worked are
gold, silver and copper. At the beginning of the 20th century the silver
and copper mines had been abandoned. The goldfields are exploited with
American capital, and yield a fair return.

_Commerce._--The exports, which comprise coffee, bananas, cocoa,
cabinet-woods and dye-woods, with hides and skins, mother-of-pearl,
tortoiseshell and gold, were officially valued at L1,398,000 in 1904;
and in the same year the imports, including foodstuffs, dry goods and
hardware, were valued at L1,229,000. Over L1,250,000 worth of the
exports consisted of coffee and bananas, and these commodities were of
almost equal value. Nearly 85% of the coffee, or more than 20,000,000
lb., were sent to Great Britain. The development of the banana trade
dates from 1881, when 3500 bunches of fruit were exported to New
Orleans. This total increased very rapidly, and in 1902 a monthly
service of steamers was established from Limon to Bristol and
Manchester. The service to England soon became a weekly one, while there
are at least three weekly sailings to the United States. In 1904 the
number of bunches sent abroad exceeded 6,000,000. So important is this
crop that the r