108 WHEAT PRODUCTION IN NEW ZEALAND 
scattered over so wide a field was a difficulty in itself. 
A further difficulty arose from the fact that much capital 
was necessary, a great quantity of which was left lying 
idle during the greater part of the year on a purely 
agricultural estate. Where intensive cultivation is 
practised, and the system of mixed farming (the chief 
characteristic of rural life in Canterbury during the 
last twenty years) is in operation, this difficulty is not 
present. 
These disadvantages rendered the production of wheat 
on a large scale a precarious pursuit, and when prices 
began to fall and yield per acre decreased owing to the 
predatory and unscientific methods of cultivation in 
operation, wheat growing on such an extensive plan was 
found to be of little or no profit in the long run. The 
final blow to the large agricultural estate was struck in 
the early ‘‘nineties’’ when the Graduated Land Tax came 
into operation. But the development of the freezing 
industry was equally important in bringing about the 
transition from the large to the small estate in the wheat 
producing area. 
The outstanding features of rural life in the wheat 
producing area during the past twenty years is the small 
holding on which. mixed farming is in operation, and 
intensive methods of cultivation are practised. Wheat 
is no longer produced on large tracts of land used 
exclusively for wheat production, but pastoral pursuits 
are carried on in conjunction with cereal growing. This is 
the system of mixed farming—where the main products 
are wool, frozen mutton, and wheat; and there is no 
doubt that the successful co-ordination of these pursuits 
is the most profitable system of farming for Canterbury, 
in the wheat producing area. A suitable system of crop 
rotation is necessary for the successful culture of wheat, 
while in Canterbury and North Otago, the pastures which 
are required for sheep farming necessitate careful culti- 
