112 EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



It is rather uncertain when the soy bean was first introduced 

 into the United States. The earliest references in experiment 

 station literature would indicate between twenty and twenty-five 

 years ago. C. A. Goessmann^ reports growing two varieties on 

 the station grounds in 1888. Of recent years the soy bean has 

 been quite extensively cultivated for soiling (or pasturage) and 

 silage purposes, and to a less extent for the production of com- 

 mercial seed, for hay and as a green manure or cover crop. In 

 Europe and America soy beans have been very little used as a 

 human food. As they contain only a small amount of starch, 

 sugar and dextrin, flour from the beans has been recommended 

 by A. L. Winton- and AngelP for making bread and biscuits 

 for people suffering from diabetes. Soy beans, dried and 

 roasted, have been mentioned as a possible coffee substitute.^ 



2. The Chemistry of Soy Bean Meal. 



The Massachusetts experiment station has given considerable 

 attention to the soy bean as a forage crop, with particular ref- 

 erence to varieties, yield, composition, digestibility and general 

 adaptability for dairy purposes. In addition to work of that 

 character the station inaugurated, in the sunnner of 1808, a 

 series of feeding experiments,^ to note the effect of the different 

 nutrient groups*' — protein, fat and carbohydrates- — in the 

 various feeds on the comj)osition of the milk and of the butter 

 fat, and on the character of the butter. Fodder groups suitable 

 for such work are usually obtained to the best advantage from 

 the seeds or their manufactured products. The action of soy 

 bean protein and of soy bean oil was under investigation during 

 the winter of 1906-07. 



The soy beans employed in the test were a mixture of several 

 varieties, with medium green and southern yellow predominat- 

 ing. The analysis of the medium green will undoubtedly ap- 

 proximate that of the mixture. 



1 Mass. State Exp. Sta. Rpt., 7 (18S9), pp. 140, 141. 



a Conn. State Exp. Sta. Rpt., 30 (1!K)6), pp. 153-165. 



3 Loco' citato. 



< Agr. News (Barl)adosi), 2 (1!)03), No. 36, p. 2Sl; Abs. Exp. Sta. Rec, 15, p. 285; Lang- 

 worthy in Farmers' Bui. 



6 Hatch Exp. SU. Rpts., 13 (1901), pp. 14-33; 14 (1902), pp. 162-168; 16 (1904), pp. 45-62; 

 Mass. Exp. Sta. Rpt., 21 (1909), pp. 66-110. 



8 It was thought this nicthorl would yield more dclluite information than could be learned 

 from the influence of the combined groups. 



