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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 66

Progress of Agriculture

Progress of Agriculture.

By the proper selection of soil, and with a system of agriculture modified to suit the great variety of climate which necessarily prevails in a country extending over 12 degrees of temperate latitude, every variety of cereal and root crop may be successfully raised in New Zealand; and, with due care in these respects, New Zealand will not fail to become a great producing and exporting country of all the chief food staples.

The progress made in agriculture has been very rapid, and the number of persons engaged in this pursuit is, as compared with other countries, very large, more than one in every five of the adult male population being in this way possessed of a permanent stake in the country. The number of holdings of one acre and upwards of cultivated land (exclusive of gardens attached to residences and Native holdings) enumerated in March, 1878, was 20,519, an increase of 1,769 on the year previous; in February, 1879, the number of holdings had increased to 21,048; in February, 1882, it had further increased to 26,298; and according to the returns collected in February and March, 1885, the number was 29,814. The exports of agricultural and farm produce (exclusive of wool) increased from £262,930 in 1875, to £1,114,253 in 1881, and £1,891,887 in 1884. In 1883, the exportation of wheat alone reached the value of £1,067,309; but since then, owing to the discouraging fall in prices, and the fact that the wheat growing was only a step in the process of laying down land in grass, the value of wheat exported decreased to £136,728 in 1885.