CONCLUSION 287 
which intensive cultivation, the application of science, 
and the beneficial reactions from pastoral farming, will 
raise our yield and diminish our unitary cost of pro- 
duction which we have already shown in Chapter IX., 
is even now low enough to provide a good profit in 
normal seasons. 
Wheat production is likely to remain confined to the 
provinces in which it is now carried on. Throughout 
the North Island an abundant rainfall provides excellent 
pastures, and the rise of the dairying and freezing 
industries has caused unprecedented development in 
many places. With a minimum of cultivation these vast 
tracts provide excellent forage for fattening, though not 
as good as that in Canterbury, while on the mountain 
ranges thousands of sheep are grazed yearly for the wool 
they produce. Even greater developments have taken 
place in the dairying industry, for a rich soil, with a 
heavy rainfall, provides an abundance of pasture, and 
the industry has proved a highly profitable one. In the 
southern portions of the South Island, the late growing 
season causes harvest operations to be rather late in the 
autumn, when unfavourable weather conditions often 
prevail. Moreover, in these districts, wheat gives way 
to oats, a crop which has been found to be relatively 
more profitable. Therefore, while the other rural 
pursuits in the North Island continue to offer a higher 
profit, it is unlikely that wheat growing will progress 
to any great extent outside the provinces of Canterbury 
and North Otago. 
8. Some Subjects for Further Treatment. 
In the investigation of the main problems of the wheat 
industry, many problems of minor importance to the 
research have suggested themselves. Some of these have 
received partial solution, while others have been passed 
by, with bare mention. 
