490 



Agriculture in New Zealand. 



of the Dominion Experimental Farm to show that on the 

 whole the advantage was with the meal as against the 

 unground grain.* 



Agriculture and Live Stock in New Zealand. 

 The following details of the area and production of crops 

 and of the live stock of New Zealand are taken from the 

 Report of the Department of Agriculture of that Colony for 

 1898. The particulars as to the chief corn crops and potatoes 

 are as under (the date as to area referring to the 15th 

 November) 





1897^8, 



18967. 



Crop. 





Production. 





Production. 



Area. 



Per 

 Acre. 



Total. 



Area. 



Per 

 Acre. 



Total 



Wheat - 



Oats 



Barley 



Rye 



Maize 



Potatoes - 



Acres. 

 315,801 



354,819 

 29,920 



1,915 

 14:837 



36,402 



Bushels. 

 18 



27-4 

 237 



20'5 



44-1* 

 Tons. 

 4-95 



Bushels. 

 5,670,017 



9,738,391 

 709,874 

 39,202 



653,914* 



Tons. 



180,333 



Acres. 

 258,608 



372,597 

 29,813 



3,245 

 12,534 



29,990 



Bushels. 

 23 

 30 

 28 

 20 

 40*2 

 Tons. 

 5-25 



Bushels. 

 5,926,523 

 11,232,803 

 821,506 

 65,629 

 503,652 

 Tons. 

 157,529 



* Estimate only. 



The above areas do not include those cultivated with cereals 

 intended to serve as fodder for stock. The harvest of 1898 is 

 stated to have been unsatisfactory so far as the yield of grain 

 was concerned. The greater part of the wheat-growing 

 district of the Middle Island suffered from drought ; and on 

 this account a deduction of 30,000 acres in the acreage under 

 wheat has been made in the returns from the full total of 

 345,801 acres sown for threshing in 1897-8. Similarly, and 

 for the same reason, 30,000 acres have been deducted from 

 the area under oats, and 2,000 from that under barley. There 



See also the notices of similar experiments in Germany in Vol. II,, p. 444, and 

 Vol. IV., p. 79, ot this Journal. 



