e a * OKI o- ^ " oo o o 

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6 WHEATGROWING IN AUSTRALIA. 



Australia has many rural industries, but of agriculture wheat 

 is the most important, just as it is the most important of the world's 

 crops. Wheat is the king of cereals the prime essential of civilised 

 life. Nearly half the inhabitants of the globe are wheat-eaters. 

 And the number is growing, for the Eastern races are becoming 

 consumers of wheat, which is significant of a higher standard of 

 living. For as races rise in the human scale wheat becomes a 

 more important part of their food. This alone shows the increas- 

 ing importance of the cereal, and the importance of the men who 

 grow it. Indeed, the food value of wheat, its ease of cultivation 

 and preparation for human use, the fact that it will grow and 

 flourish in so many different soils and climates, and can be made 

 into so many and various products, combined with its quick and 

 bountiful return, all go to enhance the value of wheat grain, and 

 the prospects of the man who grows it. 



Science is teaching how to produce more wheat from the same 

 area, is improving the varieties of wheat and the methods of cul- 

 tivating it, and teaching how to restore impoverished lands. And 

 there is still an enormous area as yet untouched, while land is being 

 utilised now that twenty years ago was deemed incapable of grow- 

 ing wheat. Who can tell what the future will find? 



Australia alone has many millions of acres of wheat land as 

 yet unused for that purpose. One of the youngest of nations, yet 

 one of the oldest parts of the world geologically, it can house and 

 feed millions more than its present population. There is room for 

 the extension and continuation of the magnificent progress that 

 wheatgrowing has already made.. The story of wheat cultivation 

 is the story of progress. In Australia, within the last decade, wheat- 

 growing has advanced rapidly. Railways have been built out into 

 new districts, and freight is cheap. Towns have sprung into 

 existence, and the whole aspect of the countryside in district after 

 district being altered by increasing settlement, where wheatfields 

 have taken the place of sheep paddocks. These towns are solvent 

 and prosperous, and certain of a great future, for there is room for 

 immensely greater settlement. The majority of the wheat farms 

 are larger than necessary, and only a small percentage of the wheat- 

 land is cultivated. The urgent necessity is for more men to build 

 homes and farm these lands. There are both private and public 

 lands awaiting settlement. 



The profitable nature of wheatgrowing in Australia is shown 

 by the comfortable homesteads and the strong financial position of 

 numerous families in the wheat districts. Many of these successful 



