S March, 1907.] 



The Outlook for Agriculture. 



135 



Republic botih withi regard to the amount of wheat shipped to Great 

 Britain and also with regard to the total area placed under cultivation. 



Imports of Wheat and Flour into Gre.\t Britain. 

 (Percentage from each Country. ) 



Cultivation of Wheat in Millions of Ackes. 

 (Averages for past twenty-five years.) 



What, then, are the main points which (ha.ve to be kept in view in 

 order to keep Australia advancing in the van of agricultural progress? 

 The first thing is the utilization to the utmost of the rainfall. We have 

 pushed the limit of cultivation, experimentally at least, ui) to the fringe 

 of the arid region, and farmers are tempted to chance a rroi> of wheat year 

 after year in spite of the probabilities of failure, simpl>- because the cost 

 of growing and harvesting the crop is so small that a good year means a 

 handsome profit. The average yield of wheat in Australia is very low ; 

 but it must be remembered that in no part of the world is the cost of 

 growing it low^er per acre, and nowhere is a crop produced on such a lov.- 

 rainfall. Nearly all the wheat grown in Victoria is produced in the 

 driest part of the State, very little of it receives more than, 20 inches of 

 rain, and there is no doubt that the limit of profitable production through- 

 out Australia will gradually be advajiced to the lo-inch line of rainfall. 



The Future of Agricultural Practice. 

 The future of agricultural practice in all parts of Australia mu.st depend 

 for its success on the judicious combination of animal husbandry wdth 

 increased areas under cultivation. We have already seen the fundamental 

 principles which are inx'olved in this combination, and also the extent to 

 which both are dependent on the proper use of the available water supph . 



