38 WHEAT PRODUCTION IN NEW ZEALAND 
(a) Indirect—New Zealand farming is characterised 
by its peculiar suitability for mixed methods, and this 
is especially true of the wheat producing area under 
investigation. Experience has shown that in this area 
no one method of farming is sufficient. Sheep farming 
is very profitable for a few years; but the pastures 
sooner or later lose their vitality. The farmer is then 
faced with the difficulty of producing fresh grasses, 
which are found to thrive best after a short period of 
cropping. Moreover, in the provision of adequate winter 
forage a sheep farmer is often placed in difficulty. For 
instance, in a dry season farmers who have been relying 
solely on their pasture for winter feed, are sadly 
disappointed, and are compelled to sell considerable 
quantities of their stocks very often at a loss. On the 
other hand close adherence to agricultural pursuits is 
likely to prove no less a failure. Examples of failure 
in this method of farming are not wanting in New 
Zealand; and the farmer who is found after a com- 
paratively short period of years with an outcropped 
farm is not altogether uncommon. 
Experience thus shows that the mixed method of 
farming in Canterbury is the most profitable; not only 
this, but we are learning year by year that this region 
is specially adapted to mixed farming. Wheat pro- 
duction is fostered by an excellent soil, and by a good 
and systematic rotation of crops the whole area provides 
excellent grazing land for both cattle and sheep. More- 
over, the growth of root crops for winter feed is 
beneficial to both agricultural and pastoral pursuits, 
in that it is an excellent preparation for soil for wheat 
and oats, and furnishes good fattening material, which, 
along with hard pastures is responsible for the world- 
wide famous ‘‘Prime Canterbury’’ mutton and lamb. 
(b) Direct Fertilisers—In many parts of the wheat 
producing area of New Zealand the virgin fertility of 
the soil has been somewhat impaired. But for the past 
decade continuous cropping has been by no means the 
universal practice of the New Zealand farmer, as it 
has been in other new countries, notably in the United 
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