222 



New Zealand Agriculture. 



green and other crops, although it has increased in fifteen 

 years by fully 70 per cent., is not very considerable. On the 

 other hand the area under sown grasses, ploughed and 

 unploughed, has increased by over 100 per cent., and attained 

 a total not much short of 11,000,000 acres. 



Area under Cultivation in New Zealand. 



Year. 



Total Area under 

 Grain. 



Total Area under 

 Green and Other 

 Crops. 



Area under 

 Sown Grasses. 





Acres. 



Acres. 



Acres. 



1885 



664,540 



467,701 



5,258,834 



1890 .... 



826,505 



513,893 



6,525,049 



1895 - - - - 



560,179 



597,686 



8,829,717 



1900 - 



745,685 



796,773 



10,853,302 



The bulk of the cereals and other crops is found in the 

 South Island, which had in 1900 as much as 661,000 acres 

 under grain (or about 89 per cent, of the total), and 606,000 

 acres (or about 76 per cent.) under green and other crops., The 

 bulk of the grazing land — just two-thirds — is, on the other 

 hand, in the North Island ; and it is there also that the 

 greatest increase in the area under grasses has taken place. 

 In 1885 the South Island had almost as much land under 

 grasses as the North Island, viz., 2,504,000 as compared with 

 2,755,000 acres ; but whereas the increase in the fifteen years 

 has amounted to 70 per cent, only in the former, it has been 

 over 140 per cent, in the latter. 



By far the larger part of these grazing lands is occupied by 

 sheep, and the following table shows that the flocks of the 

 Colony as a whole showed a substantial increase until 1895, 

 which must, however, be entirely credited to the North Island. 

 The South Island indeed finishes in the year 1900 with a 

 smaller total than it had in 1885, while the numbers in the 

 North Island had more than doubled. 



Number of Sheep in New Zealand. 



1 Year. 



North Island. 



South Island. 



Total. 



1885 

 1890 

 1895 

 1900 



4,925,253 

 6.588,346 

 8,994,646 

 9,998,173 



9,621,548 



9,527,767 

 10,831,958 

 9,357,022 



14, $46,801 

 16, 116,113 

 19,826,604 

 19,355,195 



