Agriculture, Industry and Trade.—Although the soil of the grand duchy is not very fertile, agriculture is prosperous. The distribution of land is : 123,77o ha. arable land, 81,890 ha. forests, 27,35o ha. meadows and 1,55o ha. vineyards.
The main industry of the country is the iron industry, based on the iron ores, called minette, found in the south. In 1927 Luxembourg produced 7,756,00o tons of iron ore against 7,333,000 in 1913. There were in 1927 47 blast furnaces, out of which only were going, which produced 2,723,000 tons of pig-iron as com pared with 2,547,000 tons in 1913. The seven steel foundries of the grand duchy produced in 1927 2,468,000 tons of steel corn pared with 1,182,000 in 1913. German capital, which before the war dominated the iron works of the grand duchy, has been re placed since by Luxembourg, Belgian and French capital. Besides the factories which they own in Luxembourg, the Luxembourg metallurgical companies own or control mines, collieries, blast furnaces, steel works and factories for iron and steel manufacture principally in France, Belgium, Germany and in Brazil.
Besides the ancient industries of sole leather, slates, metal con structions, china, explosives, gloves, drapery, woven wear, brewing and tobacco, long established in Luxembourg, new industries have grown up, and have made considerable way. These are the cement industry, which produced 72,400 tons in 1925, the manufacture of sparkling wines, fancy leather and brushes.
Finance.—The monetary unit is the franc, equal in value to the Belgian franc (175 francs =LI). In 1913 the public consoli dated debt of the grand duchy was about I o,000,000 gold francs. In 1925 this debt had risen, in consequence of the charges which the State had to assume during the war to assure the feeding of the population and to meet the deficits in the budget to 196,000, 00o francs, plus a loan of 175,000,00o francs issued in Belgium in 1922 and intended for the exchange of notes of the Luxembourg State for notes of the National Bank of Belgium. Since 1924 the State budget has been balanced. In 1927 the State's revenue amounted to 204,821,000ft. and the expenditure to 193,104,000 francs.
The House of Luxembourg was descended from Count Con rad (d. 1086), and its fortunes were advanced through the election of Count Henry IV as German king in 5308 and his coronation as emperor under the title of Henry VII. Henry's son was John, king of Bohemia, who fell on the field of Crecy, and John's eldest son was the emperor Charles IV, while another famous member of the family was Baldwin, archbishop of Treves (1283-1354), who took an active part in imperial affairs. Two of the sons of Charles
IV, Wenceslaus and Sigismund, succeeded in turn to the im perial throne, and one of his nephews, Jobst, margrave of Moravia, was chosen German king in opposition to Sigismund in 1410. The French branch of the family was descended from Waleran (d. 1288), lord of Ligny and Roussy, a younger son of Count Henry II. Waleran's great-grandson was Guy (d. 1371), who married Matilda, sister and heiress of Guy V, count of Saint Pol (d. 1360), and was created count of Ligny in 1367. Guy's son, Waleran (d. 1417), who became constable of France in 1412, had been carried as a prisoner to England, and had married Matilda, daughter of Thomas Holland, earl of Kent (d. 1360) and half-sister of King Richard II. To avenge Richard's death he made a raid on the Isle of Wight, and then took part in the civil wars in France. He left no sons, and was succeeded by his nephew, Peter, count of Brienne (d. 1433), who, like his brother Louis (d. cardinal archbishop of Rouen and chancellor of France, was found on the side of the English in their struggle against France. Another of Peter's brothers, John (d. 1440), a stout supporter of England, was made governor of Paris by Henry V. He sold Joan of Arc to the English. Peter's son and successor, Louis, fought at first for England, but about 1440 he entered the service of France and obtained the office of con stable. King Louis XI accused him of treachery, and he took refuge with Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy; but the duke handed him over to the king and he was beheaded in The elder branch of his descendants became extinct in the male line in 1482, and was merged through the female line in the house of Bourbon-VendOme. Louis' third son, Anthony (d. 1510), founded the family of Luxembourg-Brienne, the senior branch of which became extinct in 1608. A junior branch, however, was the family of the duke of Luxembourg-Piney, whose last representa tive, Margaret-Charlotte (d. 1680), married firstly Leon d'Albert de Luynes (d. 1630) and secondly Charles Henry de Clermont Tonnerre (d. 1674). Her daughter by her second husband, Mad eleine Charlotte, married Francis Henry de Montmorenci (d. 1695) and de Luynes, and, subsequently members of the family of Montmorenci claimed the title of duke of Luxembourg. The Luxembourg palace in Paris owes its name to the fact that it was built on a site belonging to the duke of Luxembourg-Piney.