The Waikato Times. "OMNB SOLUM FORTI PATRIA." THURSDAY, JULY 11, 1872.

Waikato Times, Volume I, Issue 31, 11 July 1872, Page 2

The Waikato Times. "OMNB SOLUM FORTI PATRIA." THURSDAY, JULY 11, 1872.

The Adelaide farmers have acted with their wheat-producing" land much in the same manner as ihe man in the fable " who killed the goose to procure all the golden eggs at once." They have for a series of years grown crop after crop of wheat till the majority of the land which formerly would produce from Sto 10 bushels to the acre, of fine wheat, only now yields three of an inferior quality. The only means at the disposal of the settlers is to manure very largely and let the land rest for a year. They cannot, as we can in this district, lay the land down in grass till it recovers, itself, as English grasses will not grow well. The expense of manuring would be very great, so that wheat-growing to the Adelaide farmer will no longer be a paying speculation. The probable stock of wheat to be grown in Adelaide each season is a matter of interest to all farmers in the Southern Hemisphere. The extraordinary fertility of the virgin soil led to enormous areas being sown each year. The little cost at which it was produced rendered it impossible for growers in the other Australasian colonies to compete with the Adelaide farmers; all the other colonies therefore become large importers of their wheat. Those countries, where climate and soil will not admit of successful cultivation, will now hare to look to some other source for their supplies. There is every probability of wheat daring the next year, fetching much larger prices than formerly. The export from Adelaide, from the causes we have above stated, wms very much less last than in former years, and next year the quantity is likely to be still smaller. Wheat can be su3cessrally grown in the Waikato, and at the present time can be disposed of to the mills in the distriot at remunerative j

prices; and on the completion ofthe railway from Met cer to Auckland, there frill neces* sari!j be a large demand for wheat grown in this district. If our farmers are not prepared to meet the demand when it arises, the trade will flow into other channels. We hare again called afctentiou to this matter in order tna|> our farmers may, before it is too late, eojv atf much wheat as they have land prepared for.