keeps a flock of sheep to feed off his turnips. He has probably, also, a town or large village in his vicinity, from which he can purchase house-manure; and, under the system of high farming, other manures are brought to him from all parts of the world.

It probably would not pay in a new country to go into the elaborate system of farming which is practised in an old one. Much may, however, be done in this direction; and if we contrast the farm work of Otago with that of the rest of the colony, we will see that it can be done to advantage.

It may be that most of the wheat crops now grown in New Zealand are only preparatory to laying the land down in grass. In that case there is little harm done. The land is not exhausted, and after being for some years under grass, may be again broken up and cropped; but what I propose to consider is whether we can hit upon an economical plan of continuing grain-cropping without a rest under grass.

There is nothing new in what I propose to state. It is only a reiteration of well-known facts, but facts which, strange to say, are seldom known to the farmer. He knows that his land is liable to exhaustion, but of the constituents which are taken away in the grain removed, or of how to replace them, he is generally ignorant.

The chief constituents of a grain crop which are carried away with the grain are only three in number—viz., phosphate of lime, potash, and nitrogen. The two former, when once exhausted, cannot be replaced except by carrying them to the ground, or by the slow process of the land lying fallow, or in grass, until fresh supplies which may still remain in the soil shall be released, and put in a condition to furnish food to plants.

With regard to nitrogen, there is an ample supply in the atmosphere, and, if I remember right, Liebig originally held that no nitrogenous manures were necessary, but afterwards, considering the effect of guano and of muck, changed his views on this point, and came to the conclusion that the nitrogen of the atmosphere in, I suppose, the form of ammonia, did not assimilate with sufficient rapidity to obviate the necessity for nitrogenous manures, and that therefore these manures must be provided.

Now, leaving aside for the time the question of the supply of phosphate of lime and of potash, let us consider how the supply of nitrogen may be most readily brought about. No doubt the simplest plan would be to purchase and apply Peruvian guano, but I wish to arrive at the result without an outlay of money. If we go back to the time of the Romans we find that they supplied nitrogen by growing and ploughing in lupins. Now any of the bean tribe will answer for the purpose, these plants being rich in nitrogen, and, when ploughed in, the decomposition which is set up places the nitrogen in a state to be assimilated by plants.

Can we in the climate of New Zealand grow a crop of some plant of the bean tribe, after the grain crop has been harvested, so as to be ready to be ploughed in before the next year's grain crop is sown? If we can do this, then, with a supply of phosphate of lime and of potash when required, we might grow wheat every year. I think this might be done in the North Island, but as regards the wheat-growing districts of the South, it may be doubtful. However, I suppose the plan would be to grow and plough in a bean crop whenever it should be thought necessary, if a crop of turnips, or vetches, fed off by sheep, should not be found equally satisfactory.

The main point, however, is the supply of phosphate of lime. As a rule, the soils of the colony are deficient in this mineral, and every effort of the farmer should go to increase it in quantity. As the best supply of nitrogen would be derived from Peruvian guano, so probably the readiest supply of phosphate of lime would be from the phosphatic guanos. But we have a grand supply of phosphate of lime within the colony without going abroad to look for it. We have over 12,000,000 sheep, and a corresponding number of great cattle. We have a large supply of bones every year, much of which is exported. Not a pound of bones ought to leave new Zealand, but, on the contrary, they should be imported from Australia or elsewhere. We have plenty of sulphur. The manufacture of sulphuric acid should be commenced. Bones treated with sulphuric acid in a state of readiness for use, and other manures, such as nitrate of soda, can be manufactured when sulphuric acid is procurable. A country which contains a liberal supply of sulphur, and in which the inhabitants are intelligent enough to understand the uses of sulphuric acid, is placed at an immense advantage over countries deficient in this mineral. Both in agriculture and in manufacture the uses of sulphuric acid are manifold, and perhaps it is only second to coal in productive economy. How much more is the presence of sulphur a Godsend in a country so remote from the rest of the world as is New Zealand, because sulphuric acid is a dangerous commodity to send by sea, and in consequence, when brought from Europe, is very expensive.

It is to be hoped, therefore, that the manufacture of sulphuric acid within the colony may be soon commenced, and then the farmers may be supplied with a liberal quantity of superphosphates.

An excellent example of the use of supplying phosphate of lime may be seen in the treatment of the clay soils near Auckland. These soils appear to be in their natural state entirely devoid of this mineral, and are in consequence extremely sterile. A liberal dose of crushed bones makes them productive, and without this supply their cultivation is useless, as they will give no returns.