186 THE AGRICULTURAL CLUB. 



flourished, and no nation ever flourished when its Agriculture 

 languished. 



Captain Hinckes, in the paper already referred to, 1 

 summarised succinctly the conditions of the chief wheat- 

 exporting countries, and after having done so observed 

 that 



Wheat surfers from the disadvantage of not being a product 

 from which the producer can get any advantage through improv- 

 ing the quality. Take the case of the Argentine, Australian 

 or Canadian farmer who is in a position to grow wheat, meat 

 or dairy produce. If he produces a good-quality cheese or 

 meat he gradually establishes a special market, and I suggest 

 that the object of every producer and manufacturer is to establish 

 a special market. Therefore, when you hear of New Zealand 

 lamb or Canadian butter or Argentine meat, it means that in 

 that particular product the grower has succeeded in creating 

 a special market. You do not hear of Australian wheat or 

 Argentine wheat in the same way. We know that miUers want 

 particular qualities for making their mixtures, but still the 

 producer does not get a special market by improving the quality 

 of his wheat. 



I have attempted to describe the factors affecting wheat 

 production overseas. The crop is, as we have seen, subject 

 to various handicaps ; perhaps its greatest advantage is that it 

 is a hardy plant and that the colonist can embark on wheat 

 growing with little capital. There is, moreover, the over-ruling 

 consideration of price. High prices act as a magnet in bringing 

 out supplies and as an incentive to production, while they serve 

 equally as a deterrent to consumption. The overseas farmer 

 is continually balancing the advantage of wheat growing as 

 against the production of meat, etc., and high prices are sure 

 to cause a swing of the pendulum towards a larger acreage, and 

 no doubt new sources of supply wih 1 be opened up. The price 

 that affects the farmer is the price on the farm, and in this 

 connection the increase of railway freights, especially in America 

 and Canada, where the wheat fields are far distant from the 

 sea-board, is bound to have an important effect in keeping up 

 prices. 



In the discussion Sir T. H. Middleton remarked that the 

 conditions which had enabled the United States to send 

 wheat cheaply to this country had now passed away and 

 new conditions had arisen. The tendency to increase the 

 bacon output in America exhibited during the war was 



1 Chapter V. 



