THE PRODUCTION OF WHEAT 23 



The table has been compiled from Annual Statistics 

 given in the Year Book for the Commonwealth of 

 Australia, and illustrates well the different methods 

 of cultivation which are adopted in the different 

 countries. With the exception of New Zealand no new 

 country has a high yield, while the yields of most of 

 the European countries are relatively high, showing that 

 wheat is produced on an intensive scale. The great 

 exception is Russia, and so low is the yield here that 

 it is obvious that with the dawn of higher civilisation 

 this country will produce enormous quantities. 



3. Conditions Necessary for Profitable Production. 



In seeking to investigate the present situation of the 

 wheat industry, it is necessary to take a survey of the 

 conditions under which the most efficient production 

 can be engendered. The belief that haphazard and 

 careless methods of production will afford sufficient 

 yields to make the pursuit lucrative is far too prevalent, 

 and although New Zealand farmers have departed very 

 far from primitive methods, no more effective answer 

 can be given to their cry of inability to profit by wheat 

 growing, than that they do not realise sufficiently the 

 advantages of superior cultivation which their education 

 and environment in a democracy warrant. A brief 

 consideration of these conditions shows them to be as 

 follows : 



(a) Soil and its Amendments. (i) Choice of soil. 

 The character of the soil affects the yield and quality 

 in varying degrees. Wheat soils may be divided into 

 three main classes : 



(1) Heavy black soil. 



(2) Clay soils usually light in colour; tenacious 

 in texture, and requiring careful cultivation. 



(3) Loamy organic soils. 



Russia abounds in the first type, and the last two 

 are found in plenty in the United States. All these 

 can be found in New Zealand, at North Otago, South 

 Canterbury, and North Canterbury, in the order named, 



