The Sun.
London, England, 1860-08-18 00:00:00

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, FRIDAY.
THE HARVEST.
Prospects certainty look no better since yester-
day. The rain is still falling steadily,
and show-
ing no sign of leaving off. Last night and this
morning the rain was accompanied by a gale of
wind amounting almost to a stout) which, if the
weather mended, would be of vat service to the
prostrate corn crops about Dublin, The Evening
Post, an old authority on these atairs,
thus refers
to the prospect :
" We are now at the middle of Augult,
and our crops in
general are in many places still green/ ibquiring the heat of
summer to promote the ripening procese.
There had been,
during the present week, a more favontable appearance in
the weather, but warmth and s
wishine are greatly
wanted to bring the crops to maturitY. A few weeks of
fine seasonable weather would effect a
and we might calculate
salutary
change in that direction, tilt calculate upon a
cereal harvest in Ireland not much below an average re-
turn, if it were seriously deficient at all.
But much will
depend on the state of weather until the close of Septem-
ber next. In other respects, we for;
been done already by the wet seasoh. much injury has
The potato crop
has suffered in Wexford and some other
counties ; but, so
far as we can learn, this crop has beell
this part of the country. The potato scarcely affected in
disease, which com-
menced in 1815, and continued with great virulence for
four years after, has been gradually
abating since 1850.
Every year since the blight has been less extensive in
its range and less injurious in its effect
and we still en-
tertain strong hope that this year'
notwithstanding the
wet and inclement weather which hag
left us almost with-
out a summer, the potato crop will escape without any
great damage. The crop which has sufferedmost from the
rain is hay. At the critical moment, A
duce was in the meadows, the rain came when a great pro-
crop has suffered in quality ; but the quantityrne do , and the
is unstsually
large and some portion had been saved during an interval
of fair weather, in very excellent condition.A failure of
the hay crop, following the great dearth of fodder for
cattle which had raised hay to so enormous a price some
months since, would have been very unfortunate indeod ;
but there is great reason to be thankful for our escape from
such a calamity."

After alluding to the disastrous state of the
weather here, the Post goes on to
say that the last
provincial accounts are exceedingi
from Meath, Westmeath, and bad, especially
Kildare, in all of
which places the crops have suffered severely from
the late rains. The glass fell Yesterday one inch,
and this morningthe tendency is still downward.

ILLICIT DISTILLATION.
Accounts from the Northstate that the de-
moralizing trade of illicit distillation is on the in-
crease in several districts there. bonegal as of old,
leads the way in the manufacture of the forbidden
potheen. The particulars a the '
capture of a still
on Saturday last are thus described .
" At three o'clock a.m. on Sunday'
12th inst., the constabulary force morning the
stationed at Let-
-
termacaward, county Donegal, proceeded on
venue duty, in the Government re
boat across the
river Guebarra. Landing on the other side, they
ascended to the top of the mountain of Glengorth,
when they saw smoke issuing from the premises of
Thady Gallaher, to which they in
stantly proceeded,
and where they found a still at work in his barn.
Seeing the approach of the constabulary the dis-
tillers made their escape down the mountain. The
force took possession of the premise, and, on
making search, found a seven-gallon keg full of
spirits, quite hot, concealed near the
house. This,
together with all the apparatus,
was removed and
carried off, The parties will be Prosecuted at the
next Sessions."
The Northern Whig attributes this last Ulster
revival to Mr. Gladstone's advance
in the duty on
Irish spirits, and adds :
"In this country, duty increase of the 4
-y beyond a cer-
tain figure has invariably been followed by a revival of illi-
cit distillation ; and the knowledge of this fact has caused
us to point out, on all occasions, the undesirability, both in
a moral and an economic. light, of raising the ditty on home-
ofmanufactured•spints,to a standard which tempts to a breach
the revenue laws:.
If the accounts in the ordinary public channels of
information are to be relied on, there has of late
been a vast decrease in the consumption of home
and colonial spirits, and a proportionate increase in
the consumption of ale and porter,
AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS FOR 1860.
The Registrar-General's return, showing in
statute acres the extent i
under flax in Ireland in
1859 and 1860, has just been issued, The gross
totals are as follow:—Total =mg()in 1859,136,262 ;
ditto in 1860, 128,240: decrease in 1860, 8,042. In
the province of Ulster the decrease Was 7,258 acres,
or nearly the whole deficit. In Munster it was 57
acres; in Leinster, 298 acres; and in Connaught,
329 acres. The Registrar-General notifies that the
annual abstracts of other corps and live stock in
Ireland are in course of preparation and will be
ready for the press in the ensuing month of Sep-
' tember.