2382 WHEAT PRODUCTION IN NEW ZEALAND 
a particular field. The total expenditure has been divided 
into three main groups as far as possible. These are 
payments arising from the use of land; the employment 
of capital; and the hire of labour and the necessity for 
managing capabilities. A fourth group of miscellaneous 
factors is necessary, for it is difficult in some cases to 
assign any particular item to any of the four main 
groups, the most noteworthy example being that of 
threshing. 
The farms from which the estimates are made are 
certainly representative, in that their areas lie within 
the range of 250 to 400 acres; the two pursuits, agri- 
cultural and pastoral, are followed, and as will be seen 
from a more detailed study, the methods of cultivation 
are typical of the average farmer. In respect of the 
quality of the land, and the distance from the railway 
station, they differ greatly, a difference which makes the 
estimates all the more representative of the whole area. 
We shall call the farms A, B, and C, A being situated 
in North Canterbury, within a mile of the railway 
station, and B and C being situated in South Canterbury, 
six and ten miles respectively from a railway station. 
A is composed of land of first-class quality for the wheat- 
producing area of New Zealand; the land of B is of 
good quality, but relative to A, is inferior, occupying a 
position slightly above second-class land. The structures 
‘of these two soils are different, in that the former is 
loose and very easy to cultivate, while the latter is of 
a heavy nature, much more difficulty being experienced 
in culivation. C is composed of fair average second- 
quality land, with about 34 inches of good black soil, 
and a very hard clay as subsoil. It is inferior to B both 
in fertility and the ease with which tillage operations 
can be performed, but the difference of quality between 
C and B is not so great as that between B and A. The 
estimated values per acre of A, B, and C respectively 
