OTHER LEGUMINOUS PLANTS. 121 



protein and fat in a form so highly digestible. It 

 is considered superior in nutritive qualities to oil 

 meal, and in some tests that have been made 

 it has compared well with cottonseed meal. But 

 the fact must not be overlooked that the hand- 

 ling of the crop, when grown, is more exacting ' 

 and laborious than the handling of some other 

 soiling crops. 



The yield of the green crop per acre varies much 

 with the conditions, but usually there is no dii^iculty 

 in growing ten to twelve tons per acre on average 

 land. But the value of this plant in producing food 

 for live stock is measured less by the yield than by 

 the richness of the food. 



Distribution. — Since the soy bean is a child of 

 the sun, it cannot be grown successfully in far north- 

 ern latitudes. The highest adaptation for this plant 

 will, in nearly all instances, be found south of the 

 fortieth parallel of north latitude, that is to say, 

 south of the latitude of Columbus, O., and Spring- 

 field, 111. The varieties heretofore introduced have 

 not been grown with any marked success north of 

 the line which marks the southern boundary of Min- 

 nesota, or, in other words, north of the forty-third 

 parallel. This means that in the meantime it has no 

 important mission as a food crop for any of the 

 provinces of Canada or for any of the states that 

 border on Canada. But some of the varieties at 

 present grown may become so acclimatized that the 

 limit of successful growth may be pushed consider- 

 ably further northward. The necessity for this, 

 however, would not seem to be so vital as further 

 south, because of the ease with which other green 



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