262 Bulletin 310 



peas with oats, and red clover with timothy, results in benefit to the oats 

 and timothy. A similar benefit to the growth of com with which soy 

 beans have been grown has been claimed by some persons. The writer 

 has not seen any proved instances of this benefit. 



It is not considered profitable to grow soy beans as a green manure 

 crop in New York, but where a cultivated crop of soy beans has been 

 removed, leaving the roots and tubercles in the ground, the available soil 

 nitrogen is increased and the succeeding crop may be much benefited. 

 The excellent growth of a crop of corn following soy beans on the uni- 

 versity farm in 191 1 was good evidence in support of this statement. 



VARIETIES 



The botanical name of the soy bean is Glycine hispida. The common 

 name " soja bean," sometimes applied to this plant, is not correct. The 

 soy bean originated in southeastern Asia and has been cultivated there 

 for centuries. Seeds of its numerous varieties have been imported into 

 the United States by the national Department of Agriculttire, by some of 

 the experiment stations, and by enterprising seedsmen. In a few cases, 

 the seedsmen offered it to the public as a substitute for coffee under the 

 name of "coffee berry." At the present time the majority of seed houses 

 offer one or more varieties of soy or "soja" bean for sale. There are 

 many varieties known. The variations in height, uprightness of growth, 

 branching habits, leafmess, color and size of seeds, and time of maturity 

 are considerable. The common names applied to many varieties in this 

 country, refer to the color of seed and the time of maturity. Generally, 

 the earlier varieties do not grow very tall nor produce heavy crops of foliage. 

 For New York conditions, some of the "early" and "medium" varieties 

 are most likely to mature. For producing crops of ripe seed, the Ito San 

 can be relied on; it is rather too small for use as a green forage crop. Of 

 all the varieties tested for green forage purposes, the one known as Medium 

 Green, Medium Early Green, and Early Green has given the most satis- 

 faction. Bulletin 98, Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, gives the correct name of this variety as " Guelph." 

 It does not seem likely that this name will come into general use, because 

 the variety's easily recognized characters are so well described by its more 

 common names. Out of several newer varieties tested at Ithaca during 

 191 1, the Elton, a yellow-seeded variety, appears to be the equal of Ito 

 San for seed production. The Auburn is a promising new black-seeded 

 variety for green forage production. In time of maturity and general 

 vigor of growth it compares favorably with the Medium Green variety. 

 The Medium Yellow, or Mammoth Yellow as it is sometimes called, is 

 later in maturing and the leaves were subject to attacks of disease in 191 1. 



