September, 1910.] 



209 



Edible Products* 



under the name of Soya bean. It has 

 long been ■ an article of food in the 

 countries named, and although it is at 

 present being spoken of in this country 

 as a new thing, it was introduced into 

 Europe and America a generation ago, 

 and its composition 'aud value have been 

 known to the white races for many 

 years. The only novelty is that the oil 

 Crushers and feeding-stuff manufacturers 

 of Western Europe have discovered it, 

 and found that great supplies of this 

 valuable oil seed can be obtained from 

 the East. 



The soy bean was fi>st introduced in 

 quantity to the British market in the 

 latter part of 1908, but so great is the 

 supply that in 1909 about half a million 

 tons were shipped to the United 

 Kingdom. 



The arrival of this feeding-stuff in 

 such quantities has been the most 

 remarkable feature of the feeding-stuff 

 market during the last two years. 

 Indeed, the importation of this beau is 

 the most important event which has 

 happened in the feeding-stuff and oil 

 crushing industries for many years past, 

 and is comparable in importance with 

 the introduction of cotton seed as a 

 cattle food. The readiness with which 

 so great an amount of material has been 

 absorbed by the market has been due to 

 the scarcity and dearness of other lead- 

 ing oil-seeds. Both linseed and cotton 

 cakes and linseed and cotton seed oils 

 are dear, and for sometime past have 

 been rising in price. But for the arrival 

 in the market of so great an amount of 

 this oil and cake-yielding bean, other 

 oils and feeding cakes would have been 

 dearer still. The Soya bean has come 

 as a blessing to the consumer of con- 

 centrated cattle foods, for not only 

 has it been comparatively cheap itself, 

 but its presence has prevented linseed, 

 cotton, and other feeding cakes from be- 

 coming even dearer than they are at 

 present. 



The price of the Soya bean and its 

 products— Soya cakes, meals, and oil — is, 

 as might be expected, rising. When 

 first introduced it was almost unknown 

 to consumers, Many also were very 

 loth to have anything to do with a new 

 bean from the East, for the serious 

 trouble caused by the poisonous Java 

 bean only a few years ago was well 

 remembered. 



It was rfeared that the Soya bean 

 might, like the Java bean, prove 

 poisonous. In some cases, indeed, state- 

 ments were made that the Soya beau 

 was like the Java bean, and contained a 

 glucoside which yields prussic acid, 

 which is a very powerful poison. In a 

 27 



case recently tried in Edinburgh, it was 

 alleged that twenty-five milk cows have 

 been poisoned by prussic acid in Soya 

 beau-meal upon which they have been 

 fed. After hearing the evidence the 

 Judge, Lord Mackenzie, decided inter 

 alia "that (1) the symptoms shown by 

 the cows in question were not consistent 

 with prussic acid poisoning, but were 

 cousistent with ptomaine poisoning, or 

 illness caused by ill-feeding or overfeed- 

 ing on potatoes of the kind described, . . . 

 (3) pure Soya bean-meal contains practi- 

 cally no hydrocyanic acid, (4) it is a good 

 feeding stuff, though, on account of its 

 richness, it requires to be used with 

 caution." 



Certain statements have been made in 

 the press and elsewhere which show that 

 those unfamiliar with the names of these 

 beans were confusing the Soya bean 

 with the Java bean, and ascribing the 

 trouble caused in 1905-6 by the Java 

 bean to the Soya bean. 



In consequence of such rumours, and 

 the want of familiarity of consumers 

 generally with the real properties of 

 the beau, feeding-stuffs made from it 

 were very cheap. As confidence in its 

 usefulness as a cattle food increases, 

 the demand for it is rapidly increasing, 

 and the price is consequently rising. 

 It is still, however, a cheap food com- 

 pared with other standard articles like 

 linseed aud cotton-seed. 



Soya beans were introduced from the 

 East into Europe many years ago, and 

 attracted much attention in Austria, 

 Germany, and elsewhere, soon after 1870, 

 on account of their high nutritive quan- 

 tities. Experiments were made with 

 them as cattle foods, and also it is 

 said, as food for human beings. They 

 were tried as field crops in Germany, 

 and are said to have been grown with 

 considerable success. In Britain, so far 

 as the writer is aware, they have been 

 grown only in small experimental plots. 

 Although they are cultivated in coun- 

 tries with a colder winter climate than- 

 ours, it appears that our summers are 

 not bright and warm enough for their 

 cultivation. In Scotland at any rate 

 our climate appears to be too dull 

 and cold. 



In the United States of America they 

 have been grown with success, and have 

 become an established crop in certain 

 parts of the country. There they are 

 grown both as a grain crop and as a 

 fodder crop. The United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture have published 

 much information about their cultiva- 

 tion in that country. They appear to 

 grow almost on any soil, and over a 



