LEADING FEATURES OF THE WHEAT INDUSTRY 187 
the total crop has been produced outside these areas. 
Consequently, I have confined my investigations of con- 
ditions in New Zealand to Canterbury and Otago.* 
It will be well to remember again that on account 
of the great diversity of industries, which the varying 
conditions in different parts of the Dominion favour, 
it is extremely unlikely that the land will again be 
subjected to the pursuit of one industry alone, such as 
was the case in the late ‘‘seventies’’ and early ‘‘eighties.’’ 
Three main pursuits are open to our farmers—dairying, 
pastoral farming, and cereal growing. In the North 
Island the superiority of the land for dairying and sheep 
grazing has led to the rapid development of these 
industries in recent years. The conditions are eminently 
favourable for these industries, for the fertility of the 
soil and the abundance of the rainfall provide pastures 
second to none in the world. There is every prospect 
that this tendency towards pastoral and dairy farming 
will be maintained, and that cereal growing, which has 
never attracted the attention of farmers to any great 
extent, will be almost abandoned as far as production 
for the market is concerned. Moreover, of the cereals 
commonly grown in New Zealand, it is likely that least 
attention will be given to wheat, because the rainfall in 
most places is in excess of the upper limit for profitable 
wheat production.t Conditions in the South Island 
differ greatly from these in the North Island. This is 
due chiefly to the effect of the high western mountain 
ranges on the climate of the East Coast, and secondly 
to the geological formation of the land. The mountains 
*See graph showing area for Canterbury and Otago com- 
pared with that for New Zealand, page 32. 
+These remarks must be accepted with slight reservation 
in regard tothe area around Palmerston North, known as the 
Manawatu Plains. Here wheat production is still practised to 
a small degree, and the elements seem favourable for its 
continuation. 
