INOCULATION 429 



Growing Soy Beans for Forage. For forage, soy beans are 

 grown in rows and cultivated (Fig. 183) or sown thickly with the 

 grain drill. When grown in rows primarily for forage, they are 

 planted about twice as thick as when grown for seed ; that is, forty 

 to sixty pounds of seed are required per acre. When broadcasted or 

 sown thickly with the drill, from six to eight pecks per acre are 

 usually sown. It is best to cut them when the pods are well formed 

 but not ripe, as the stems become quite woody as the plant matures. 

 Soy beans are much easier to cure into hay than cow peas. For this 

 reason, they are sometimes grown with cow peas as forage. 



Mixed with Corn. In the northern States where corn is used 

 extensively for silage, many farmers now grow soy beans to mix 

 with the corn in the silo. In some cases it is found best to grow 

 the soy beans separately and mix the two as the silage is being cut, 

 at the rate of about one load of soy beans forage to two loads of corn. 

 In other cases, it has been found quite practical to grow the corn 

 and soy beans together. If equal quantities of soy beans and corn be 

 mixed in the corn planter box, a fairly even distribution can be 

 secured, if the precaution is taken to keep them well mixed. There 

 is some disadvantage in that the planting can not take place before 

 the ground is well warmed, as soy beans will not do relatively as well 

 as corn in cold, wet soil. Also there is a little more difficulty in giv- 

 ing clean cultivation to the corn, as the soy beans grow somewhat 

 more slowiy. If the corn is very thick and grows vigorously, it is 

 also apt to smother out the soy beans. Some have found it more 

 practical to plant the corn and soy beans separately at about the rate 

 of two rows of corn to one row of soy beans. 



The soy bean forage improves the silage by making it richer in 

 protein matter. This mixture gives a well-balanced ration and 

 reduces the feed bill for concentrated protein. 



Inoculation. While soy beans, like other legumes, have nodules 

 and a particular form of bacteria associated with them, yet it is rare 

 that they fail for lack of inoculation. They will usually do quite 

 well on any productive soil, even when no trace of nodules can be 

 found on the roots. It is probable, however, that inoculation is quite 

 important on poor soils, especially if sandy. In experiments made 



