12 WHEATGROWING IN AUSTRALIA. 



heat that is not as uncomfortable as the lower temperatures in 

 moister climates. The warm weather holds for two or three months 

 in midsummer, when the heat during the day is trying, but for the 

 remainder of the year the climate is perfect. The winter is mild, 

 so much so that live stock need no shelter, and often fatten on the 

 natural pasture throughout the year. Farming operations can be 

 conducted throughout the year. There is no snow or period when 

 work is practically at a standstill.. 



AUSTRALIAN WHEAT AREA. 



On the average of the past five years the wheat yield of 

 Australia represents about 2 per cent, of the world's production. 

 The return per acre is low, but as has been pointed out, the cost 

 of production is likewise low, and it is doubtful if in any other 

 country the business of growing wheat is more profitable. The 

 area now cultivated is but a mere percentage of what could be put 

 under wheat profitably. The exact area is almost impossible to 

 arrive at, for the simple reason that with improved methods and 

 better varieties of wheat, the extent of country in which the cereal 

 can be successfully grown increases. 



For practical purposes the area deemed suitable for wheat- 

 growing is that which has sufficient rainfall to admit of plough- 

 ing being carried out at the right time of the year, as already stated, 

 from March to June, to cover the growing period, and to fill the 

 grain during September and October. In other words, it is not SQ 

 much a matter of what the annual rainfall is as when the rain 

 usually falls. The State of New South Wales for example. For 

 a long time land with less than a rainfall of 20 in. has been excluded 

 from the area considered safe for profitable wheatgrowing. Even 

 then the area in that State suitable for wheat covers 25 million 

 acres. In the State of South Australia farmers place the annual 

 rainfall limit at 16 in., provided it is regular and the land is pro- 

 perly worked. If wheat can be grown on that rainfall in the latter 

 State, and the evidence is that it certainly can, at least another 

 10,000,000 acres can be added to the wheat belt of the State. 

 Although, therefore, the present area under wheat (1913-14) is 

 only 3,206,600 acres, there are 35,000,000 acres on a moderate 

 estimate in New South Wales alone that can grow wheat profit- 

 ably. And experiments in the west show that a still greater 

 extension of the wheat belt can be looked for, especially with 



