LEADING FEATURES OF THE WHEAT INDUSTRY 185 



gradually passed away, and the country adopted the 

 small holding* for good or ill. 



2. Reasons for Choosing 1895 as the Commencement 

 of a New Period. 



Although 1895 may be regarded as the commencement 

 of the latest well-defined period in the organisation of 

 wheat production, the actual transition period extended 

 over the whole of the "nineties" into the early years 

 of the present century. But co-existent with the large 

 estates there were many comparatively small holdings 

 springing up, and when the rise of the frozen meat trade 

 promoted the method of mixed farming, these small 

 estates were soon found to possess the greatest differential 

 advantages in production. 



The middle ' ' nineties ' ' is not chosen arbitrarily for the 

 introduction of the last well-defined period in the wheat 

 industry in New Zealand. Several forces were operating 

 to bring about the change at this time. Thus it was 

 in the year 1895 that the long continued and heavy fall 

 in the price of farm products reached its lowest point. 

 From this year until the end of the century farm 

 products rose in price, and the rise has continued almost 

 without intermission until the present time. Secondly, 

 the year 1895 marks the beginning of the decline in the 

 acreage under wheat. In the case of both Canterbury 

 and Otago the area devoted to the production of wheat 

 has decreased considerably since the year 1895. Thirdly, 

 it is about the middle "nineties" that the yield per acre, 

 which, owing to the exhaustion of the soil had shown a 

 falling tendency for some years, began to rise again, 

 and it rose very sharply and persistently until recent 



*Relative to European conditions our holdings are large; 

 for they range in size from 100 to 500 acres, and, where the 

 country is mountainous, or of such a nature as to be useful for 

 grazing purposes only, they are frequently much larger. 



