THIRD 
SERIES. 
VOL. I. 
«ii Smji trn tjj t M unit tji* Blitiir. 
ALBANY, JUNE, 1853. 
No. VI. 
Rust in Wheat Prevented by Draining. 
H E following suggestions, which we copy 
from a letter of an eminent agriculturist in 
Western New-York, whose soil is a strong, 
rich, clayey loam, opens a subject of much 
interest to wheat growers. The facts presented 
may not be wholly new to some ,- but the leading 
principle which they support may not before have 
attracted attention, or been so distinctly held up 
to view: 
<( I have learned that wheat, in the light and 
gravelly districts of Western New-York, suffers 
very little, if any, from rust or mildew; while 
with us, the two great causes of damage, are rust 
and winter-killing. I have been thinking over 
the subject.,- and as we know that under-draining 
is a cure for the latter, may it not also be a cure 
for the former? 
“We have little if any land in this district of 
country, which does or has not required under¬ 
draining. Now the point to which I wish to direct 
attention is, whether the exemption from rust 
is not owing to the dryness of the soil and sub¬ 
soil? If it should prove to be so, then we have an 
additional inducement to under-drain. 
“ I had some under-drains made in a piece of 
land that was originally a black ash swamp, and 
had a mucky soil—and from such, wheat is very 
liable to be ejected in winter. Yet over one of 
these drains I observed last spring that the wheat 
stood thick and undisturbed, while much at a short 
distance was severely injured. 
‘ ‘ There is a tract of gravelly land between Lock- 
port and Batavia, which I think is underlaid by 
plaster beds—a sort of oak openings —which is fa¬ 
mous for producing wheat. It is worthy of in¬ 
quiry whether rust is destructive there or not. 
11 In those dry Asiatic or African countries, 
where there is not moisture enough to encourage 
the growth of rust or mildew, it might be difficult 
to determine how much the soil or subsoil has to 
do with the matter; but if it could be shown that 
in our moist climate under-draining is able to 
counteract its defects on so important a point as 
the growth of whgat, the discovery would act as a 
powerful stimulus on our farmers. 
“ I may add, that under live trees, where roots 
keep the ground firm [by preventing much culti¬ 
vation] and comparatively dry, wheat is neither 
liable to be thrown out in winter, nor injured by 
rust; and generally along our swales where there 
is the most moisture there is the most rust. 
11 When I removed to this country, I had no 
idea that our land would ever need draining, but 
this was when the ground was full of roots. Since 
these rotted out, there has been a settling down of 
the soil,—an intelligent neighbor thinks it has set¬ 
tled four inches in the last ten years, though I 
have no" means of telling how much. I only know 
that I have fields -which I would not now think of 
sowing with wheat, but to which purpose I should 
have made no objection ten years ago. 
“ All I intend by these remarks is to excite ob¬ 
servation and reflection, and not to build up an 
opinion or theory.’ 7 
Culture of Indian Corn. 
As the time for planting corn is approaching, 
and being myself a practical farmer of some expe¬ 
rience, I have thought it might not be amiss to 
state to my brother farmers, through the medium 
of your widely circulating papers, the mode in 
which I have for many years past been most suc¬ 
cessful in raising this valuable crop. It is this: 
I take a meadow, or pasture, on which the grass 
is getting thin; cover it as thick with manure as 
can well be plowed under • then proceed to plow 
about six or eight inches in-depth, taking care to 
have every furrow laid completely over. If the 
ground be uneven, or not well plowed, I follow 
with a heavy roller, which closes many a crevice 
and prevents the grass from choking the young 
plant, and also prevents the harrow, which imme¬ 
diately follows lengthwise the furrow, from dis¬ 
turbing the sod. After completing the field in 
