LEGI MIN01 8 CROPB. - r >65 



SOYBEANS. 



A crop which is grown to the extent of 190,000 acres in the United States 

 seems surely I sril some place in the agriculture of New South Wales, 



which in many parts i> climatically similar to America. 



For many year- soybeans were tried on the North Coast and in other 

 warm districts mi the western slopes, luit without any sign of success, hum 

 this Failure it has been wrongly concluded that the climate of New South 

 Wales is wholly unsuited to the culture of soybeans. Evidence is now avail- 

 able to the effect that it is in the cooler climates of the State chiefly that 

 soybeans will be generally most successful. On the North Coast, both 

 velvet beans and cowpeas are too strong competitors as green manures or 

 even as fodder crops, with perhaps the exception of one outstanding varietj 

 of soybeans. Though resistant to a certain amount of dry weather, soy- 

 beans are not sufficiently drought-resistant to stand the long dry spells 

 experienced during the summer in the western districts, except in favoured 

 localities on the slopes. 



Although killed by heavy frost, soybeans will stand a considerable amount 

 of frost without injury, and have been already successfully grown on parts 

 of the Northern, Central, and Southern Tablelands. The seed does not rot 

 in cold weather nearly as readily as cowpeas, and will germinate well even 

 when the weather is wet and cold in the spring. It is stated that in America 

 some varieties (particularly the black-seeded varieties) will lie in the ground 

 all the winter and germinate in spring, while cowpea seed exposed in this 

 way quickly rots. 



The Utility of Soybeans. 



The soybean is one of the most important crops in China and Japan, and 

 from those countries a large quantity of soybean oil is exported, some of 

 which finds its way into Australia. The oil is a semi-drying oil (contained 

 in the kernels to the extent of about 17 per cent.), which is used chiefly in 

 the manufacture of paint and soap. 



It is not, however, as a grain crop for this purpose that it is likely to 

 make headway here. Apart from its value as green manure (being a legume, 

 it maintains or increases the nitrogen of the soil also), the soybean excels 

 mainly — (1) as a grain crop for hogging down, on account of its heavy pro- 

 duction of seed of very high protein and oil content and excellent feeding 

 value, and (2) as an emergency hay crop on account of the high value of its 

 fodder. As mentioned above, the hay is about equal in feeding value to 

 lucerne hay, and superior to clover hay, and it has the added virtue of being 

 able to produce good crops of hay on soils too poor or too sour for clover or 

 lucerne. 



Unlike cowpeas, the soybean ripens all its seed about the same time; on 

 the tablelands the best varieties take about four months to reach the hay or 

 fodder stage, and about five months to mature seed. 



One feature of the soybean crop is its comparative freedom from attacks 

 of insects and diseases. Even the seed in storage is not affected by the bean 

 weevil which infests cowpeas and other beans badly. Eabbits are, however, 

 very partial to the crop even when plenty of other feed is available, which 

 may be taken as an indication of its high palatability and feeding value. 



