10 REPORT— 1898. 



The fertility of the North-West Provinces of the Dominion is due lo an 

 exceptional and curious circumstance. In winter the ground freezes to a 

 considerable depth. Wheat is sown in the spring, generally April, when 

 the frozen ground has been thawed to a depth of three inches. Under the 

 hot sun of the short summer the grain sprouts with surprising rapidity, 

 partly because the roots are supplied with water from the thawing depths. 

 The sunnuer is too short to thaw the ground thoroughly, and gate-posts 

 or other dead wood extracted in autumn are found still frozen at their 

 lower ends. 



Australasia as a potential contributor to the world's supply of wheat 

 atfords another fertile field for speculation. Climatic conditions limit the 

 Australian wheat area to a small portion of the southern littoral belt. 

 Professor Shelton considers there are still fifty million acres in Queensland 

 suitable for wheat, but hitherto it has never had more than 150,000 acres 

 under cultivation. Crops in former days were liable to rust, but since 

 the Rust in Wheat conferences and the dissemination of instruction to 

 farmers, rust no longer has any terrors. I am informed by the Queens- 

 land Department of Agriculture that of late years they practically have 

 bred wheat vigorous enough to resist this plague. For the second season 

 in succession, the wheat crop last year was destroyed over large areas in 

 Victoria ; and in South Australia the harvest averaged not more than about 

 3| bushels per acre after meeting Colonial requirements for food and seed, 

 leaving only 684,000 bushels for export. In most other districts the yield 

 falls to such an extent as to cause Europeans to wonder why the pursuit 

 of wheat-raising is continued. 



New Zealand has a moist climate resembling that of central and 

 southern England, while South Australia is semi-arid, resembling western 

 Kansas. Only two countries in the world yield as much wheat per acre 

 as New Zealand — these are Denmark and the United Kingdom. Not- 

 withstanding the great yield of wheat, due to an equable climate, New 

 Zealand finds fruit and dairy farming still more profitable. The climatic 

 conditions favourable to wheat are also conducive to luxuriant growths 

 of nutritious grasses. Thus the New Zealander ships his butter more 

 than half-way round the world, and competes successfully with Western 

 Europe. 



During the last twenty-seven years the Austro-Hungarian population 

 has increased 21-8 per cent., as against an increase of 54-6 per cent, in the 

 acreage of wheat. Notwithstanding this disparity in the rates of increase, 

 exports have practically ceased by reason of an advance of nearly 80 per 

 cent, in unit consumption. There can be little doubt that Austro-Hungary 

 is about to enter the ranks of importing nations, although in Hungary a 

 considerable area of wheat land remains to be brought under culti- 

 vation. ' 



Eoumania is an important wheat-growing country. In 1896 it pro- 



' Appendix K. 



