26 THE SOY BEAN ; HISTORY, VARIETIES, AND FIELD STUDIES. 

 EARLY AGRICULTURAL HISTORY IN THE UNITED STATES. 



The first mention of the soy bean in American Hterature is by 

 Thomas Nuttall, in the New England Farmer, October 23, 1829. 

 Nuttall grew a variety with red flowers and chocolate-brown seeds 

 in the botanic garden at Cambridge, Mass., and from his observa- 

 tions wrote a brief account concerning it. He writes: 



Its principal recommendation at present is only as a luxury, affording the well- 

 known sauce, soy, which at this time is only prepared in China and Japan. 



In the same journal two years later, November 23, 1831, is an 

 account of the successful culture of the plant at Milton, Mass., the 

 seed having been obtained from Nuttall. 



No further mention of the plant in American literature appears 

 until 1853, when a brief account appeared under the name "Japan 

 pea," by A. H. Ernst, Cincinnati, Ohio, as follows: "■ 



The Japan pea, in which so much interest has been manifested in this country for 

 a year or two past, from its liardihood to resist drouglit and frost, together with its 

 enormous yield, appears to be highly worthy of the attention of agriculturists. 



This plant is stated to be of Japan origin, having been brought to San Francisco 

 about three years since, dnd thence into Illinois and Ohio. Its habit of grov/th is 

 bushy, upright, woody, and stiff, branching near the ground, and attaining a height 

 of three or four feet. The leaflets are large, resembling those of an ordinary bean, 

 occurring in sets of three, with long quadrangular stems. The flowers, which are 

 email and white, but rather inconspicuous, sometimes having purple centers. 



In the following year, 1854, the Perry 'expedition brought back 

 two varieties of "soja bean" from Japan, one "white" seeded, the 

 other "red" seeded.'' These, together with the Japan pea, were dis- 

 tributed by the Commissioner of Patents in 1854, and, thereafter? 

 frequent references to the plant occur in agricultural literature 

 under such names as Japan pea, Japan bean, and Japanese fodder 

 plant."^ Most of these articles speak of the plant as the Japan pea, 

 none of them as the soy or soja bean. It is apparent from the early 

 accounts that there were at least two Japan peas, one early enough 

 to mature in Connecticut (Patent Office Report, 1854, p. 194), the 

 other very late (American Agriculturist, 1857, vol. 16, p. 10). Judg- 

 ing from all the accounts, we suspect that the early Japan pea may 

 be the Ito San variety, which, however, has red flowers, while the 

 late variety may be the Mammoth. The Ito San is still occasionally 

 called the Japan pea, while the introduction and source of the Mam- 

 moth has never been definitel}^ determined. From these early 



o Report of the Commissioner of Patents, Agriculture, p. 224. 



b Report of the Commissioner of Patents, Agriculture, 1854, p. xv. 



c See especially Report of the Commissioner of Patents, Agriculture, 1854, p. 134. 

 American Agriculturist, November 1, 1854, p. 120; January, 1857, p. 10; February, 

 1874, p. 63. Rural New Yorker, January 21, 1854, p. 22; January 21, 1858, p. 14. 

 American Farmer, January, 1856, p. 57. The Cultivator, May 18, 1855. 

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