8 N. H. AGR. EXPERIMENT STATION. [Bulletin 181 



either with corn or in a separate field and later ensiled with the 

 corn. A mixture of the two crops in the silo does not make a 

 balanced ration. It is still necessary to feed some grain; but the 

 milk flow can be maintained with less grain where a mixture of 

 corn and soy bean silage is fed than where the silage is made 

 from corn alone. Silage made from corn and soy beans has been 

 found to be more digestible than that made from dent corn 

 alone.* It seems reasonable, therefore, that many farmers 

 could cut down their feed bills by growing soy beans and putting 

 them into the silo with corn. 



Soy beans fit into the crop rotation, either as a silage crop 

 or when red clover fails. We need a more systematic rotation 

 of crops on our New Hampshire farms. We also need more 

 legumes, to enrich and improve the soil and to furnish protein for 

 our dairy cows. Soy beans can readily be utilized for these 

 purposes. 



SOILS AND FERTILIZERS. 



Soy beans have a wide range of soil adaptation. They do 

 well on sandy soils which are too light to grow profitable crops 

 of clover. They also thrive on heavier soils. In general, any 

 soil which will grow good corn will grow soy beans. Better 

 yield for forage can be grown on rich soils than on poor soils. 

 Where the soil is poor, barnyard manure or commercial fertilizer 

 may be used profitably. If the beans are inoculated there is 

 little need for any nitrogenous fertilizer. Here at the station 

 we used ten tons of manure and 500 pounds acid phosphate per 

 acre with inoculation. The beans grew well and gave excellent 

 yields as our data show. 



INOCULATION, t 



Soy bean seed may carry enough of the inoculating bacteria 

 to cause a liberal formation of nodules on the roots. A farmer 

 can never be sure of this and it is better to inoculate either 

 with soy bean soil or prepared pure cultures. Inoculated beans 



* Henry's Feeds and Feeding, 1910. 



tFor methods of inoculation see N. H. Press Bulletin No. 44. 



