The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 75
Soils
Soils.
The Southern Alps and mountains adjoining are, owing to their great altitude, subject to disintegration, and form for the most part rocky barren wastes.
The lower ranges and hills, the high tablelands, and the light stony portions the plain form the pastoral areas.
In the northern and southern districts and in the great central plain are the agricultural areas. This latter class of land comprises rich alluvial tracts about Cheviot, Rangiora, Kaiapoi, Lincoln, Ellesmere, Longbeach, Temuka, and Wainate, and the splendid plain-and down-lands which extend from Cheviot to the Waitaki.
Banks Peninsula, where the soil is of a rich volcanic nature, though exceedingly hilly, has alluvial areas in the valleys and about the bays.