Plains.

The Wairau Plain, containing about 65,000 acres, on which stands Blenheim, the capital of Marlborough, is the principal block of agricultural land within the district. The soil, generally good, is, on the lower or seaward side of the plain, extremely fertile, especially in the neighbourhood of Tua Marina, Spring Creek, and near Blenheim, which is surrounded by numerous gardens, with rich deep mould, and well sheltered with trees. The average yield of wheat for the plain is about 25 bushels per acre; of oats and barley, 35; of peas, 30; and of potatoes, 10 tons per acre. Hops have been successfully grown for many years in the neighbourhood of the town, but, owing to the high price of labour, their cultivation has not extended. The plain, traversed in all directions by good macadamised roads, and dotted over with numerous comfortable homesteads, standing in clumps of trees amidst well-cultivated fields, has already an old-world appearance. Mors than half the population of the Marlborough Land District—12,677, according to the last census—is centred in the Town of Blenheim and on the Wairau Plain. Besides this plain there are several thousand acres of terrace flats and valleys along the larger rivers, notably at Starborough, on the Lower Awatere, all suitable for closer settlement, and capable of sustaining a large population.