Commercial.

Press, Volume VII, Issue 685, 9 January 1865, Page 3

Commercial.

Pbxss Office, Saturday, Jan. 7. A slight improvement may be noticed daring the past week in general business. The lately arrived immignnto are sought for, and as harrest is so near there is erery chance of all finding work. Wool is now arming fast from the country, and greater activity is visible than we hare lately reported. Flour is still dull of sale at former prices. Complaints are made of the late importations as being very deficient in quality; the best is still quoted at from £24 to £26. Oats are rather more inquired for; small lots coma to hand occasionally, but large holders refuse to sell without an advance; 3s can only be quoted. We are informed that 2s 9d to 2s 10d is all Jhat is offered for the new crop. Knee our last we are sorry to report a still further loss to the growing grain crops. The gale of last Tuesday is considered to hare been more severe than, the onelast season, which did so much damage to the standing com. Last year the great heat assisted in the destruction of the -grain, by mating the almost

ripe straw bo brittle that the ear was easily broken off or shaken ; bmVthis year the dam&ge appears to have been done by the wind alone, bruising and beating out the unripe grain, and breaking down, the straw. .Wheat, barley, and oats have all suffered, but the former most severely. We extract the following from a letter received from a large agriculturist north of the Ashley : — " I am sorry to say the late gale has done a great deal of harm to the wheat crops: many farmers have lost half, and all have suffered severely. My wheat is a good deal shaken out and broken down. I consider that this gale has done far more damage than the one last year, as part of the crops then was already saved, whereas this has inflicted damage on the whole. There is also a good deal of smut and rust, as well as blight about. Two of my neighbors have lost upwards of a third of their crops by smut, and one of the finest crops of wheat I ever saw is completely destroyed by rust and fit for nothing but to be burned." This report is from what has been considered the best wheat district in the province, and which early in the season showed but few symptoms of blight and promised an abundant yield. * JFroin careful enquiries of farmers south of Christchurch we find the same damage has been done by the gale, especially on the new broken and consequently unsheltered land. The bright is also said to be spreading rapidly ; and many crops are reported as swarming with caterpillar, which is thought will take' nearly all the blight and wind have left. Thieis now the second year that the province has suffered from bad cultivation and high winds at this time of the year, and has had to send away many thousands of pounds for what was wasted : still no improvement can be noticed. A careful attention to the mode of cultivation and time of planting the blighted crops might tend to prevent such a general recurrence of this disease in future ; and smaller enclosures, well fenced and planted would, if generally adopted, save much of the almost annual loss by the high winds. With our rapidly increasing population, the question of importing a quarter or even a fifth of our breadstuff's is becoming a serious one, and if legislative interference could effect anything by open"ing 'fresh country and generally extending agriculture, it would be a boon to the province.