GENERAL CONDITIONS IN NEW ZEALAND 31 
natural encumbrances. Except for certain portions 
of the Southern part of the Island the climate enjoyed 
is second to none in the temperate zone, mild winters 
and warm summers being the chief characteristics. 
While stock raising is the main rural industry, grain 
growing is pursued on a considerable scale. The chief 
grain growing areas are Marlborough in the North, 
Otago in the South, while the Canterbury Plains, 
extending over an area of 3,000,000 acres, produce large 
quantities of wheat annually. Such is the character 
of this area for wheat production that yields often 
average 35 bushels per acre, while between 80 and 90 
bushels per acre have been registered on individual 
fields at times. From such a general survey it is at once 
obvious that our Dominion possesses qualifications for 
agriculture of no mean importance. 
(c) The Producing Area.—In considering in detail 
the general conditions under which wheat is produced 
in New Zealand attention for the most part will be 
confined to Canterbury and North Otago. I have chosen 
this area for the centre of my investigation because, in 
reference to wheat production, no other area in New 
Zealand is of immediate importance, though there is no 
doubt that were wheat growing to become relatively more 
lucrative than pastoral farming, in many parts of the 
Dominion there would be found conditions very well 
suited for profitable production. This area, composed 
of the Canterbury Plains, the Downs of South Canter- 
bury, and those of North Otago, is our present wheat 
producing area, and I propose to confine my attention 
mainly to these districts. 
In order to illustrate the relative importance of this 
area, I have prepared a graph comparing the sum of 
the areas in cultivation for Canterbury and Otago with 
the total area for New Zealand, and the result is both 
remarkable and illustrative. It is remarkable in that 
it shows to full advantage the predominance of this area 
in the total area for New Zealand, and _ illustrative 
because of the advantage to be obtained from the graph 
