FARM MANAGEMENT PEACTICE OF CHESTEB COUNTV, PA. 85 



necessary; in fact, with a good crop of soy-bean hay and the addi- 

 tional corn which this rotation would give it would be possible to 

 feed good rations to a large dairy herd with little or no purchase 

 of concentrates. This should considerably reduce the expense of 

 farming here. 



It is realized that it is a serious matter to recommend the introduc- 

 tion of a crop that is new to most of the farmers of a region for so im- 

 portant a place in the cropping system as the annual hay crop in this 

 6-year rotation occupies. This objection holds particularly in the case 

 of soy beans, because of the difficulty of making a success with them 

 in regions where they have not been commonly grown before. The 

 soy bean is a comparatively recent introduction into American agri- 

 culture. It is a legume, and the bacteria which it absolutely requires 

 are not generally found in American soils. For this reason nearly 

 every farmer who tries soy beans for the first time makes a failure of 

 them. In view of this fact, the authors recommend that those who 

 try this G-year rotation use oats or cowpeas for the annual hay crop 

 at first, but it is also recommended that the farmers of this locality 

 begin generally to experiment with a small area of soy beans. This 

 area should be located in some out-of-the-way place, and the first seed- 

 ing of soy beans should be thoroughly inoculated with the bacteria 

 which this crop requires. The bacteria may be obtained from the 

 United States Department of Agriculture. Another way of inoculat- 

 ing is to get a quantity of soil from a field which has recently grown 

 a good crop of soy beans. The inoculation by this method usually re- 

 quires from 300 to 500 pounds of soil per acre. This should be done 

 just before seeding. In distributing this inoculated soil, care should 

 be used to avoid the direct rays of the sun, which tend to kill the bac- 

 teria. The inoculation should be done on either a cloudy day or late 

 in the afternoon, and the soil should be harrowed at once in order that 

 some of the bacteria may be covered up and thus protected from the 

 light of the sun. Several farmers in Chester County have grown soy 

 beans. A picture of such a field is shown in figure 10. 



The first seeding of soy beans is often a failure, but the land will at 

 least get a partial inoculation. The crop should be sown again on the 

 same land the next year, and if necessary, again the third year. Cer- 

 tainly the third year a magnificent -crop of soy beans should be ob- 

 tained. This Avill supply seed sufficient for sowing the larger acreage 

 in the rotation. Not only that, but the inoculated patch will supply 

 ample soil with which to inoculate the field in which the soy beans are 

 to be sown. The authors believe that when the soy-bean crop has be- 

 come thoroughly established, and the details of its management are 

 thoroughly understood by the local farmers, its use in the rotation here 

 outlined will be found to add considerably to the profits in farming. 



