26 WHEAT PRODUCTION IN NEW ZEALAND 
cultivated ready for wheat, which should be sown before 
winter sets in, so that the young plant may come up and 
establish itself before the cold frosts commence. The 
wheat spends the winter in root development, and does 
not make much show above the ground until the spring. 
After harvesting the crop in the autumn the farmer 
again ploughs the land, after which it is left until the 
spring. It is ploughed again then, and between this 
ploughing and the sowing of a root crop, it undergoes 
a thorough cleaning. 
Such, then, is the complete rotation, and it is obvious 
that it is adapted only to countries where intensive 
methods of cultivation are in operation. Among its 
numerous advantages we may note that the system 
provides excellent conditions for growing both wheat 
and barley or oats in districts where the rainfall is 
inclined to be deficient. Not only is an abundant supply 
of nitrogen provided for these crops through the medium 
of the cake purchased for the stock, but the solidification 
of the deeper layers of the soil ensures the retention 
of the winter’s rain for the use of the crop during the 
dry summer. Then, again, the residue of the phosphates 
and potash applied to the root crop and left in the soil 
when that crop is removed, provides for the mineral 
requirements of the cereal crop. Furthermore, rotation 
husbandry also distributes the labour of the farm over 
the year. 
A modified form of this type of rotation is easily 
applicable to New Zealand conditions, but would require 
more labour than is obtainable at present. The home 
of this rotation system is in England, and some of the 
thickly populated countries of the Continent, and with 
what results can readily be comprehended by a glance 
at the table of yields for the different countries; for 
several of these countries produce over thirty bushels 
per acre. If New Zealand can produce a yield of over 
thirty bushels per acre on a system bordering between 
intensive and extensive cultivation, how much greater 
would be her yield if the above rotation were adopted? 
(b) Climate-——Wheat has a very wide climatic range, 
