THE BEST LEGUMINOUS PLANTS 177 



BURR CLOVER. 



Another legume which has been attracting a good deal of attention of 

 late in the South is the burr clover, medicago denticulata, a sort of annual 

 alfalfa. This, like the vetch, seeds the ground and "volunteers" year after 

 year. It is a winter growing plant and not a very heavy forage maker, but in 

 the South will furnish stock a green bite at almost any time during the 

 winter. 



THE SOY BEAN. 



This plant is a native of Southeastern Asia. Botanically it is called 

 glycine hispida, and has gotten the incorrect name of soja bean. It is an 

 important article of food in Asia, particularly in Japan, where there are as 

 many varieties in cultivation as we have of cow peas in the South. Though 

 the plant was introduced into England in the eighteenth century little inter- 

 est was excited in it, and it was not till very recently that experiments have 

 been made in this country and in Europe, which have demonstrated its value 

 as a soil improver and a forage plant. The soy is an erect growing plant, 

 growing in good soil to the height of five feet, and bearing a profuse crop of 

 hairy pods. The different varieties are distinguished by the color of the 

 seeds and the time it takes for the crop to mature. For a northern latitude 

 and a short season, the Early White is perhaps the best, but it makes little 

 forage and drops its leaves very early. Medium Early Green is about the best 

 for hay making purposes, and there are later varieties which are valuable 

 in the South. Like all other legumes the soy thrives best on a soil well 

 supplied with phosphoric acid, potash and lime, and while it gives a heavier 

 crop on strong soils, it will thrive on land too poor to make a crop of clover. 

 In fact, the plant thrives on a great variety of soils. One of the most valu- 

 able features of the soy is its ability to withstand droughts that would kill 

 corn. The upright habit of the plant makes it easier to handle in harvesting. 

 The seed of the soy may be sown broadcast, but the best crops are usually 

 grown where the beans are drilled in rows, like ordinary beans, and well 

 cultivated. The Massachusetts Station found that while the soy, like other 

 legumes, needs potash, it does best when it is supplied in the form of a 

 muriate. When sown in drills, half a bushel of seed will suffice for one acre 

 of land ; when sown broadcast twice as much, or more, will be needed. When 

 sown for hay the ordinary wheat drill will put them in about right, and the 

 hay will be more easily cured when the plants are grown thickly. The crop 

 should be cut for hay as soon as the pods are mature, but not dry and hard. 

 Unlike the cow pea, the hard round seed of the soy admits of the crop being 



