Nevertheless,--and in spite of any gibes conveyed in the words farinaceous, cockatoo, or free-selecter,--South Australia is especially blessed in being the one great wheat-producing province among the Australian colonies. The harvest of 1870-71,--which was, no doubt, specially productive, but is quoted here because it is the last as to which, as I write, I can obtain the statistics,--gave 6,961,164 bushels of wheat, which at 5_s._ 3_d._ a bushel, the price at which it was sold in Adelaide, produced £1,827,305. In the same year, that is, up to 31st December, 1871, which would take the disposal of the crop above mentioned,--for wheat, it must be remembered, in Australia is garnered in our spring, and not in our autumn,--104,000 tons of bread-stuff were exported, and sold for £1,253,342. So that the colony consumed not a third of the breadstuffs which it produced. The population of the colony up to 31st December, 1871, was 189,018 persons. So that the value of the breadstuffs exported in that year was something over £6 12_s._ 6_d._ a head for every man, woman, and child within it. With such a result, South Australia need not be ashamed of being called farinaceous. It must not, however, be supposed that the year above quoted shows a fair average. The following table will give the amount of wheat produced, with the area from which it was produced, the average crop per acre, and the value per bushel, together with the amount of bread-stuff and grain exported for the year above named, and the four preceding years:-- WHEAT PRODUCED. | AREA UNDER WHEAT. | AVERAGE CROP PER | | ACRE. Year. Bushels. | Year. Acres. | Year. Bsh. lb. 1866-7 6,561,451 | 1866-7 457,628 | 1866-7 14 20 1867-8 2,579,894 | 1867-8 550,456 | 1867-8 4 40 1868-9 5,173,970 | 1868-9 533,035 | 1868-9 9 42 1869-70 3,052,320 | 1869-70 532,135 | 1869-70 5 45 1870-71 6,961,164 | 1870-71 604,761 | 1870-71 11 30 VALUE PER BUSHEL. | VALUE OF BREAD-STUFFS | AND GRAIN EXPORTED. Year. s. d.| Year. 1866-7 4 5 | 1867 £1,037,085 1867-8 7 1 | 1868 568,491 1868-9 5 0 | 1869 890,343 1869-70 5 3 | 1870 470,828 1870-71 5 0 | 1871 1,254,444