OTHER LEGUMINOUS PLANTS. II9 



and they also possess the power of self-pollina- 

 tion. 5. It has much power to draw nitrogen 

 from the air and to deposit the same in the soil for 

 the benefit of succeeding crops. 6. It is one of the 

 richest of foods grown for live stock. 7. It may be 

 grown as pasture, as soiling food, as hay or as green 

 manure ; it may also be grown for the grain which 

 it produces. 



The soy bean, very often designated the soja 

 bean, is an annual plant. When all the conditions 

 are favorable it will grow to the bight of four feet 

 or more, but the average hight of the plants is from 

 two to three feet. It is branching in its habit of 

 growth, the stems are somewhat coarse and the 

 leaves are large and fairly numerous. The pods are 

 short and broad, and each pod contains from two to 

 five seeds which vary much in color according to the 

 variety. The yield of the beans varies of course 

 with the nature of the soil, the season and the method 

 of cultivation adopted. Crops have been grown 

 which produced as high as forty bushels per 

 acre, but the average crop is probably less than half 

 that amount. 



The soy bean makes an excellent food for cattle 

 and swine, probably also for horses and sheep, 

 although experience in feeding it to horses and sheep 

 is as yet somewhat limited. The green food and the 

 hay are excellent for cows in milk ; the same is true 

 of the seeds when ground and fed with some less 

 concentrated food. Soy bean meal should probably 

 be always thus fed. Except the peanut, there is 

 perhaps no other vegetable product grown in this 

 country which contains such high percentages of 



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