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 ery 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, 
