286 WHEAT PRODUCTION IN NEW ZEALAND 



development of her rural industries, and the other 

 industries that naturally follow in their train. 



But the question arises: Can the farmer hope to 

 continue growing wheat at a profit ? In a recent article* 

 the Director of the Canterbury Agricultural College 

 shows clearly that the cessation of cultivation for cereals 

 would ultimately cause greater loss than the saving in 

 expenses of cultivation. This point has been stressed 

 in many parts of this work, and we are now in a position 

 to state a conclusion of great importance. The system 

 of farming best suited to the wheat producing area 

 is mixed farming. Especially is this the case in Canter- 

 bury, where over 70 per cent, of the wheat crop is 

 grown; in this Province, of comparatively recent years 

 the development of the frozen meat industry has rendered 

 pastoral farming a very remunerative pursuit. This 

 accounts very largely for the diminution in the pro- 

 duction of wheat, but it is well known that " Prime 

 Canterbury Mutton and Lamb" require special forage 

 during the fattening period. This can be provided for 

 in Canterbury only by the systematic cultivation of the 

 soil, and, as wheat is the most profitable cereal, the 

 farmer will undoubtedly continue production. 



But in Chapter VIII we have seen that our farmers 

 are commencing to farm in a more enlightened manner. 

 Though there are still members of the old school of the 

 "eighties" who exploited the soil by their predatory 

 cultivation, their numbers are fast diminishing, and 

 "high farming" is being taken up on all sides. The 

 Agricultural College in the wheat producing area has 

 demonstrated the fact that intensive cultivation on 

 average land induces good yields, and the farming 

 community is at last realising this. We are, then, 

 entering on a new era of farming for New Zealand, in 



*The Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Journal," 1914, 

 page 10. 



