126 SOILING CROPS AND THE SILO. 



growing it for the grain. From about sixteen to 

 twenty- four quarts will suffice for the latter purpose, 

 while not less than thirty-two quarts are usually 

 sown to provide green food. Some growers favor 

 thick planting to encourage an upright and tall rather 

 than a branching growth, because of the greater 

 ease with which plants of the former type can be 

 harvested. 



The soy bean should never be planted until the 

 arrival of warm settled weather, and the planting 

 may proceed as long as there is a reasonable hope 

 of sufficiently maturing the crop before the autumn 

 frosts arrive. In Kansas, for instance, crops planted 

 on wheat stubble in July have been matured. 



Cultivation. Wherever the soil does not lift 

 with the wind, the roller should both precede and 

 follow the planting of soy beans, unless where mois- 

 ture is abundantly present. The cultivation given 

 should of course be generous and prompt, since the 

 beans grow so quickly that this work cannot be very 

 long continued. In some instances it is possible to 

 use a harrow on the land between the time of plant- 

 ing the seed and the appearing of the young plants 

 above the surface. The instances are also frequent 

 in which the harrow may be driven over the ground 

 with much advantage to the plants after they have 

 got four or five inches above the surface of the 

 ground, but it should be driven along rather than 

 across the rows to prevent the horses from treading 

 down the plants. But when the harrow is so used, 

 the teeth should be set with a backward slant. 



Feeding. When the crop is grown for the seed 

 it may be cut to much advantage with a self rake 



