lo Feb., 191-.] Wheat and i/s CnUivatio7i. yi 



WHEAT AND ITS CULTIVATIOiV. 



T.—INTRODUCTIOX. 



A. E. Y. Richardson , M.A., B.Sc. (Agric), Agr'icuUtiral Superintendent. 



Ever since the dawn of history civilized man has used wheat as a 

 staple article of diet; and, in competition with foods of other races, it 

 is d;si)lacing rice, millet, and other grains to such an extent that its pro- 

 duct'on has become one of the most fundamental problems of the time. 

 No problems in the realm of agriculture should be of greater moment than 

 those relating to the production and distribution of our daily bread. Par- 

 ticularly is this true with respect to Australia, for the prosperity of her 

 people and the stability of her finances are in a very large measure de- 

 pendent on the success of her wheat harvests. 



It is estimated that the world's average annual production of wheat 

 for the past five years has been 3,150 million bushels. Of this vast 

 quantity, Australia has only contributed about 2 per cent. Although 

 the wheat industry of the Commonwealth has made enormous progress 

 during the past decade, it will be many years before Australian production 

 will exert any appreciable influence on the price of wheat in the great 

 markets of the world. 



Importance of the Wheat Industry. 



Some idea of the importance of the wheat industrv to Australia mav 

 be gained from a perusal of the latest figures of the Commonwealth 

 Statistician. Of the total area under cultivation for all crops in 1909-10, 

 namely. 10,972,299 acres, no less than 6,586,236 acres were reaped for 

 wheat, or 60 per cent, of the total, whilst 2,228,029 acres or 20 per cent, 

 of the total were cut for hay, the greater portion being wheaten hav, that 

 is, probably 75 per cent, of the total area under cultivation to all crops 

 was placed under wheat in 1909-10. 



The man in the street naturally seeks some explanation for the extra- 

 ordinary popularity of this cereal, and under the existing economic con- 

 ditions convincing reasons are readilv forthcoming. ^^'heat is an excellent 

 pioneer crop, and it lends its?lf admirablv to the extensive sy.stem of 

 farming common to all comparatively new countries, where, compared with 

 densely-populated countries, land is cheap, and individual holdings con- 

 siderable, high class farming is rarely practised, and the object of the 

 cultivator is rather to secure a small average return from an extensive 

 acreage than a large average return from a small area. With our multiple- 

 furrow ploughs. 20-tine cultivators, and 4-horse drills, large areas can 

 be cultivated with the minimum of hand labour, and the complete har- 

 vesters enable the grain to he taken off with the greatest facility. With 

 the increase of population, and the inevitable increase in land values ahead 

 of us, this system of farming, particularlv in Victoria, will gradually be 

 modified, and a new era will be ushered in, characterized by smaller areas 

 under individual cultivation and higher averages per acre. 



Under existing conditions of cultivation, it does not require the exer- 

 cise of much skill, or of a great deal of labour, to secure a payable crop 

 of wheat, though it does require the very highest skill, ability, and in- 

 telligence to secure the maximum crop the soil and season will allow. 



