no 



The yield of the soy bean is very prolific, running from 25 to 40 

 bushels per acre and even 100 bushels have been reported under very 

 favorable conditions. The soy bean like the cowpea may be sown upon 

 stubble land after the wheat or oat crop is harvested. Two crops may 

 thus be grown upon the same land and the land left in much better condi- 

 tion than it would be after the wheat or oat crop. In fact the bean crop 

 is often worth twice as much as the wheat or oat crop, the seed selling for 

 $1.00 to $2.00 per bushel, and the haulm is as valuable as an equal 

 amount of red clover hay. All the analyses which have been made of the 

 soy bean show that it compares well in useful qualities with other legu- 

 minous plants. The green haulm has nearly the same composition as 

 red clover. It is richer in protein and fat than the cowpea. 



In a comparison of many analyses made, it appears that the soy bean 

 stands as well in digestibility as the clovers, cowpeas, alfalfa or any other 

 legume whatever. As a soiling crop it is regarded as one of the most 

 important. A succession of forage may be had from summer to autumn 

 by sowing several varieties that mature at difTerent times. As an ensilage 

 crop it is surpassed by few. It is said that the silage keeps well and is 

 readily eaten by stock, and the animals show good results in flesh and in 

 the production of milk. When, as often happens, the bean is allowed to 

 get too ripe for hay it may, with more profit, be used as silage. The hay, 

 being coarse, is not eaten so voraciously as red clover hay or peanut hay, 

 and that of many other leguminous plants. 



Probably the best use which can be made of the soy bean in the 

 South is for the fattening of hogs. When so used the labor and expense 

 of harvesting is saved. It also forms an excellent pasturage for sheep. 

 Prof. Georgeson, in his experience at the Kansas Station, has this to say 

 in regard to its value for the production of pork: 



"It was found that a lot of three pigs which was fed for 126 days on a 

 ration consisting for the first eleven weeks of Kaffir corn meal alone, and 

 the last seven weeks of Kaffir corn meal and shorts, gained a total of 191 

 pounds, while a similar lot fed two-thirds Kafifir corn meal and one-third 

 soy bean meal gained 517 pounds in the same time. Another lot of three 

 pigs which was fed on corn meal for the first eleven weeks of the experi- 

 ment, and a mixture of two-thirds corn meal and one-third shorts for the 

 last seven weeks of the experiment, made a total gain of 306 pounds in 

 126 days, while a similar lot of three pigs fed on two-thirds corn meal 

 and one-third soy bean meal throughout the experiment gained 554 

 pounds in the same time. The largely increased gains in these pigs must 

 be credited chiefly to the soy bean meal." 



The soy bean may also be regarded as a valuable acquisition as an aid 

 in the restoration of soils. It, like all other leguminous plants, adds 

 nitrogen to the soil. For this purpose it is highly valued in Japan, and is 

 one of the crops planted in rotation with the cereal crops. It is now gen- 

 erally believed that if planted in a corn field at the last plowing it will not 

 only do much to enrich the field but it will also furnish almost as much 

 food for live stock as the corn crop itself. 



Prof. Jared G. Smith, Assistant Agrostologist of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture, says that "the feeding value of the bean has 



