74 PRACTICAL CORN CULTURE 
on the ‘‘Medium Yellow.’’ The ‘‘Black Ebony’’ grows more 
rank and is about two weeks later than the ‘‘Medium 
Yellow.’’ 
Inoculation: Like other legumes, soy beans utilize the 
nitrogen in the air and add it to the soil by means of root 
nodules. These nodules are caused by certain bacteria. Un- 
less they are present, soy beans in most soils will make but 
a weak growth; many will turn yellow and some may even 
die. These bacteria are present in most soils of the South 
but in the Corn Belt proper, the bacteria are not well distrib- 
uted, which makes it advisable to inoculate. 
Inoculation of a new field may be secured either by trans- 
ferring the soil from a well inoculated soy bean field or by 
using some of the pure cultures advertised. (We obtained 
our first inoculated soil from the Illinois Experiment Sta- 
tion at Urbana. The station sells soil at fifty cents per hun- 
dred pounds and one hundred pounds is enough for twenty 
acres if the glue process is used.) 
We find the glue process the most economical as well as 
the most effective. The method consists of sticking parti- 
cles of the inoculated soil to the beans by wetting the beans 
in glue water. The glue water is made by dissolving about 
three pounds of glue in ten gallons of water. This is enough 
water to wet fifty bushels of beans. (It is a good plan to 
add about a gallon of flour paste as this gives the glue water 
a little body.) A layer of beans about four inches deep is 
thoroughly wet with the glue water and the inoculated soil 
is sprinkled over them. The beans are then shoveled about 
until particles of soil are sticking to all the beans. Then 
another layer is treated in a like manner. The beans should 
be shoveled over about every half hour until they are dry. 
They will be dry enough to prevent heating in two to four 
hours. Do not try to drill until the beans are dry and don’t 
