LEADING FEATURES OF THE WHEAT INDUSTRY 183 



CHAPTER VIII. 



LEADING FEATURES OF THE WHEAT 

 INDUSTRY IN THE LAST PERIOD (1895-1914). 



1. Retrospect. 



In Chapter VI the course of the organisation of wheat 

 production in New Zealand since the period of early 

 colonization was traced with a definite end in view. The 

 gradual merging of one system of production into 

 another was treated in more or less detail, until the 

 closing years of last century, when the initial stages of 

 our present systems of production were definitely shaped. 

 Perhaps the most outstanding feature of the wheat 

 industry during the latter half of the century was 

 the large scale production of the " eighties. " The 

 interesting and suggestive nature of this period in the 

 development of our wheat industry has been sufficiently 

 discussed, but it may be well to refer again to the 

 connection between this period and the preceding one. 

 This connection is not difficult to trace. " Bonanza" 

 farming was at length discovered to be relatively un- 

 profitable on account of the many serious obstacles which 

 it encountered.* The operation of the law of decreasing 



*8ee above Chapter VI., page 102. 



