MELBOURNE

The Australasian of the 6th March ■ays : — The changes have been few again this week. Flour is unaltered m price, and the supply of. wheat is still scanty. The price has risen steadily at Adelaide, but the quantities sent into Melbourne are so limited that the true value here has scarcely been tested as yet Oats are very dull of sale, and maize has beeu declining for the last ten days. The supply of hay sent into market this week has beeu limited and sales have been effect d readily, but prices have not risen, although at present they are very firm. The grain shows of this colony have commenced, aud South Australia has, as usual, given us a standard of comparison m regard to the weights of our grain. At the Adelaide show last week the first prize hill wheat weighed 6811 bto the bushel- the second prize, 691 b; and the third prize sample, 681 b. The first three lots of wheat grown on the plains weighed respectively 6711 b, 6711 b, and 671 b per busheL Of the 50- bushel lots the weights were— first, 671 b 15oz ; second, 67Jlb ; and third, the same. The three prize lots of English barley weighed 5811 b, 561 b, and 57*U>. The best nfty-bushel lot of this weighed 56|lb to the busheL The two best samples of Cape barley weighed as much as 5441 b each. The oats were heavy also, weighing, the first lot 511 b, and the second 501 b 6oz. The collection of grain is described as being very fine, but the heaviest wheat was not quite equal to a sample exhibited once, and only once, before, as will be seen from the following extract from the South Australia Regixter:— "The weight of the heaviest sample is above the Average, although not equal to the best exhibit of 1867, as the following list will show— ln 1537 tlie hills' wheat weighed 661 b 6oz; m 1858, 031 b looz; m 1859, 681h lloz in 1860, 671 b 8Joz ; m 1861, 671 b Boz •m 1802. 