DESCRIPTIONS OF THE VARIETIES. 17 



Tho main stem is stcnit at the base, one-fourth to one-half incli in diameter there, 

 but soon becomes reduced in size and fU'Xuous or somewhat twining in habit. It is 

 then no longer distinguishable from the larger branches. The entire plant reaches a 

 height of from 3 to 5 feet. The long slender branc-hes spring abundantly from the 

 whole length of the stem. They frequently equal or even exceed the main stem 

 in length, and are themselves repeatedly branched. The long lower branches arc 

 inclined to become prostrate unless the rows are close enough together to give some 

 support one to another. The tips of the branches become actually twining and often 

 tangle themselves together. The leaves are very small, only 1 to 2 inches in length, 

 narrow, medium green to light green in color. The pods also are very small, scarcely 

 1 inch long by about onc-fdurth inch wide. They are scattered quite uniformly over 

 the long stem and l)ranches. The seeds are medium small and elongated in projuir- 

 tion to their width, jet black, shining, the original seed so heavily coated with pow- 

 dery bloom as to obscure the ground c-olor entirely, the generations grown in this coun- 

 try much less thickly covered, narrowly elliptical, 4 to 5 mm. wide, 5^ to 7 nun. long, 

 a common size being 4i by 6i mm., very much flattened, only 24 to 3 mm. thick. 



The Riceland has not yet been placed on the market. It is known only from the 

 original importation from beyond ("hiu Niu, near Hankow, province of Hupeh, in 

 the great valley of the Yangtze, China, where it is sown in July or August, between the 

 rows of rice. It ripens late in the fall after the rice is harvested. It is thus accus- 

 tomed to very wet soils. In the trials made in this country it has required from one 

 hundred and fifty to one hundred and eighty days to reach maturity. It is i)ro))able, 

 however, that if treated here as in China, viz, planted late in wet ground, it would 

 still come to maturity before frost, at least in the South, and in a considerably shorter 

 period than if sown earlier. Its numerous slender l)ranches, fine foliage, and tall 

 growth are indicative of great value as a hay plant. It does not do well at all in dry 

 regions and should be tested only on moist or wet soils. It is worthy of very careful 

 trials under these conditions. 



S. P. I. No. 1G790 from Hangchow, China, is probably another lot of this striking 

 variety. This lot has not been grown by the writer, but it is characterized by the 

 same narrowly elliptical, flattened seeds. They average slightly larger than those just 

 described, some reaching 5 by 8 mm. Hangchow is also in the rice-growing section of 



China. 



The name, Riceland, is suggested by the use of this variety by the Chinese in their 



rice fields. 



Numbers and sources of lots grown. — Agrost. No. 964, S. P. I. No. 6560; S. P. I. No. 

 6560, from beyond Chiu Niu, near Hankow, China. 



Brown-Seeded Group. 



OGEMAW. 



The Ogemaw soy bean has recently been brought to public notice and put on the 

 market by Mr. E. E. Evans,a of West Branch, Mich., as an extra early form for northern 

 latitudes. The writer has had it under test for only one season, that of 1905. In all 

 trials made, mostly in the middle South and Southwest, it has shown itself to be a 

 dwarf and stocky early variety. Since the well-known effect of sowing northern- 

 grown seed in the South is to check its vegetative vigor for at least one season, it may 

 be assumed that the Ogemaw is likely to have a greater average height than it reached 



a Mr. Evans spells the name "Ogema," wliich is likely to prove confusing in pronunciation to those 

 unfamiliar with the name. Prof. C. D. Smith, director of the Michigan Experiment Station, states that 

 the name was derived from the county ' ' Ogemaw," and the writer prefers the longer spelling as being 

 more likely to be correctly pronounced. 



98 



