536 FORAGE PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE 



sible. At the Tennessee Experimental Substation at 

 Jackson, rabbit injury was much reduced by using 

 scarecrows, to each of which a lantern was hung at 

 night. 



Rootknot caused by a nematode ( Heterodera radicicola) 

 often injures soybeans considerably, but more damage is 

 caused by cowpea wilt, due to a Fusarium. 



Caterpillars sometimes eat the leaves, but the loss 

 from such insects is seldom serious. 



On the whole it may be said that no insect or fungus 

 pest has yet assumed any great economic importance in 

 connection with the culture of the soybean. 



653. Breeding. The soybean lends itself readily to 

 improvement, and considerable work in breeding is being 

 carried on by the United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture, the Tennessee Experiment Station and the Ohio Ex- 

 periment Station. The Ohio Station is testing individual 

 plants in duplicate plant-row work in much the same way 

 that it is testing ears of corn and is finding decided differ- 

 ences in yield of seed and forage, in tendency to shatter 

 and in habits of growth. The Tennessee Station is con- 

 ducting selection work with a number of varieties and has 

 found considerable variation in maturity, habit of growth 

 and plant characters within the same varieties, so that 

 several strains of the same variety are under test. The 

 United States Department of Agriculture has done a very 

 considerable amount of work toward the improvement 

 of the soybean by selection and hybridization. The 

 results of the breeding work thus far indicate that 

 it is easily possible to improve the varieties now on the 

 market. 



654. Soybeans and cowpeas compared. Inasmuch 

 as soybeans are adapted to so nearly the same uses and 



