thin the last decade, wheatgrowing has advanced rapidly.
Railways have been built out into new districts, and freight is cheap.
Towns have sprung into existence, and the whole aspect of the
countryside in district after district being altered by increasing
settlement, where wheatfields have taken the place of sheep paddocks.
These towns are solvent and prosperous, and certain of a great future,
for there is room for immensely greater settlement. The majority of the
wheat farms are larger than necessary, and only a small percentage of
the wheat land is cultivated. The urgent necessity is for more men to
build homes and farm these lands. There are both private and public
lands awaiting settlement.

[Illustration: TYPICAL CLASSES OF FARMING LANDS.]

The profitable nature of wheatgrowing in Australia is shown by the
comfortable homesteads and the strong financial position of numerous
families in the wheat districts. Many of these successful
wheatgrowers, indeed most of them, are men who started with little or
no capital in cash, but with plenty of energy and willingness to work.
They have built homes for themselves in the "bush," and found
prosperity, and there is room for thousands of other men to follow in
their footsteps. In a favourable year a wheatfarmer will often receive
as much, or more, for his crop than the capital value of his land.

[Illustration: FIRST STAGES OF CROPPING.]

In the early stages of wheatgrowing in Australia mistakes were made and
progress was slow. Wheat was grown in the wrong soil and districts, and
suitable varieties of the cereal were not available. Cultivation was
confined to the moist coastal country, with its annual rainfall of 30 to
40 in., and wheat was not a success. The discovery that the drier
districts inland were more suitable for wheatgrowing altered the
position very happily. The bulk of the wheat is now grown in districts
with a rainfall of 20 to 25 in. and under. This averaged rainfall is
considered sufficient for wheatgrowing, and safer than a heavier
rainfall. Wheatgrowing has been most profitable in districts with a
rainfall below 20 in., and an average of 40 bushels per acre has been
harvested from 600 acres. On well-worked fallowed land splendid
money-making crops have been gathered, although the growing crop only
had 2 or 3 in. of rain.

In Australian wheat districts the quantity of rain is not as important
as the time of the year in which it falls. Rain is wanted in t