SOY BEAN 



661 



SOY BEAN 



Sofa hispida, Mcench. Legummosee. 



French, Sqja. German, Soja-Bohne. 



Native of China. Annual. In China the varieties of this plant 

 are almost as numerous as those of the Kidney Bean are in Europe. 

 There are dwarf kinds and also tall ones which, if not climbers like 

 our tall Kidney Beans, at least trail for a considerable distance. 

 Up to the present time, only one or two dwarf early varieties have 

 been cultivated in Europe and considered of any importance for 

 table use, and to the de- 

 scription of these we shall 

 here confine ourselves. 

 So far, it does not appear 

 liable to be attacked by 

 any insect, nor to suffer 

 from any parasitical 

 fungus, while its vigorous 

 habit of growth, its great 

 productiveness, and the 

 richness of its beans in 



Soy Bean ( natural size ; detached pods, 

 \ natural size). 



nutritive properties cause 

 it to be justly esteemed 

 as a valuable plant for 

 agricultural and economic 

 purposes. 



CULTURE. The Soy 

 Bean is grown in exactly 

 the same manner as 

 Kidney Beans. It requires 

 nearly the same degree of 

 heat, and ripens at the 

 same time as the mid- 

 season varieties of these 

 plants. All the pods on a plant, however, do not ripen together, 

 those which set first being often full-grown and nearly ripe while 

 the plant still continues to flower on the upper part of the stem. 



USES. The beans are eaten, either green or dried, like Kidney 

 Beans. The dried beans should be steeped in water for some time 

 before they are cooked, otherwise they will remain almost as hard 

 as they were when uncooked. 



Common Yellow Soy Bean. A dwarf thick-set plant, forming 

 small compact tufts from 10 to 20 in. high, according to the rich- 

 ness of the soil and the time of solving. Flowers very small, green 

 or lilac, in axillary clusters, and succeeded by hairy pods, each 

 containing two or three small beans, which are pale yellow when 



