March, 1917.] THE SOY BEAN IN NEW HAMPSHIRE. 19 



SO next season. The soy bean should produce as much seed per 

 acre as the ordinary bean. 



As a human food. Although the soy bean has not been in 

 general use as a human food, it is highly nutritious and is at 

 present on the market in the larger cities for human consumption 

 on account of the prevailing high prices and scarcity of field beans. 

 It is not as palatable at first as the ordinary bean, but there 

 is no doubt that our people can acquire a taste for it. The bean 

 is prepared by either stewing or baking. It requires considerably 

 longer to cook the soy bean than other beans. 



As a crop for soil improvement. By reference to the table 

 on page 15 it can be seen that the soy bean is high in nitrogen. 

 The average nitrogen content of the 16 varieties was found to be 

 117 pounds per acre. Assuming that one-half of this came from 

 the air it is evident that about 58 pounds of nitrogen has been 

 added to the farm fertility for every acre of soy beans grown. 

 Every pound of this nitrogen is worth at least 15 cents in com- 

 mercial fertilizer. The value of this added nitrogen per acre is 

 S8.70, and can be figured as such, provided the manure is care- 

 fully handled. 



If it is felt that a soil is so sandy or so low in fertility that 

 a year should be utihzed in growing green manure crops to plow 

 under, the soy bean will be found to produce as much green 

 material for this purpose as any other plant. It may be grown 

 in the summer and followed in the fall by rye or rye and vetch. 



The following letter from Prof. R. A. Moore, Agronomist 

 of the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station, speaks for 

 itself in this connection: 



"It is really remarkable how rapidly the acreage of soy beans 

 has increased in our state. We are now growing them through 

 the sandy region that we thought at one time was practically 

 useless. Farmers are growing them for seed and growing the 

 hay. They take the place of clover and after we have grown 

 soy beans for two or three years, on this land we can readily get 

 catches of clover on the Jack Pine soils which are very fight in 

 character. Then after we get them under cultivation we can 

 grow corn. Thus we are practically reclaiming the sand belt, 

 which governs a portion of several counties of our state." 



