240 WHEAT PRODUCTION IN NEW ZEALAND 
ean be successfully developed, for there arises the im- 
portant problem of ensuring sufficient and satisfactory 
pastures. The small farm on which mixed farming is 
practised offers a solution for the difficulty. At present, 
however, the farmer has awakened to the fact that sheep- 
farming or dairying, where it is possible, offers a greater 
return per unit with probably less actual labour and 
worry. It is becoming more and more evident that in 
the immediate future our wheat supply will be endan- 
gered by the allurements offered by pastoral pursuits, 
in spite of the fact that with current prices wheat pro- 
duction is not unremunerative. In view of these facts 
the writer has been forced to adopt the opinion that our 
attitude towards the wheat industry should be radically 
altered. To this we shall return in the concluding 
chapter. 
Note.—After this chapter had gone to press, the results of 
an experiment carried out on the Leeston Soldiers’ Settlement 
by the National Efficiency Board were brought under the notiee 
of the writer. The following statement is an extract from 
‘«The Press’’ (Christchurch) of May 6th, 1918:— 
‘‘With a view to throwing some light on the much-debated 
question of the cost of wheat growing, the Ellesmere County 
Committee of Advice to the National Efficiency Board recently 
asked the Lands Department for a return of the cost of wheat 
growing on the Leeston Soldiers’ Settlement, formerly the 
property of Messrs. Holley Bros. The information sought has 
been furnished to the Committee by the Commissioner of Crown 
Lands, and by Mr. W. Holley, who acted as honorary supervisor. 
The area sown in wheat was 98 acres, and the yield averaged 
27 bushels to the acre, which is considered to be at least two 
bushels above the Ellesmere district average for the season 
just concluded. The statement is as follows:— 
