148 THE WHOLE ART OF RUBBER-GROWING 



Such'uan (where it is chiefly grown) as food for the 

 people. 



Early last year the authorities in the Malay States 

 embarked upon a scheme of raising soya on a large 

 scale, but the latest reports point to an all-round 

 failure, first as to yield, and again as to the pos- 

 sible profitable exploitation of the plant. The same 

 thing happened two years ago in Java, and also in 

 the Philippines, where great things were prophesied 

 for the soya by the already optimistic and enthusiastic 

 American colonists. In each case — and generally the 

 same may be said in every instance where, given the 

 proper soil and climate, the soya bean fails to yield 

 profitably — the fault was wholly due to a want of 

 practical knowledge of its cultivation. 



Soya bean is a highly nitrogenous plant. Thus it 

 obtains all its nurture from the air, taking nothing 

 from the soil, but at the same time endowing it with 

 qualities of immense manurial value sufficient in a 

 general way to provide for an indefinite period all the 

 necessary elements for raising the crop successively 

 year after year in the same ground. 



In breaking new territory, it is therefore essential 

 that the soil should possess in the greatest possible 

 degree all these particular and peculiar elements, 

 otherwise the crop will be a certain failure. There 

 are two methods whereby this endowment of the soil 

 may be accomplished, viz. by the employment of 

 artificial manure and by means of the legume itself. 

 The first is rarely, if ever, satisfactory, and it is there- 

 fore needless to discuss it further. But of the other, 



