October, 1908.] 



327 



Edible Products. 



Yield. 



The amount of forage obtained from 

 the soy bean will, of course, vary wide- 

 ly, according to the conditions under 

 which the crop is grown. Under favour- 

 able conditions as much as 12 or 13 tons 

 of fresh fodder may be produced per 

 acre. In the New England States, 

 under the ordinary farm conditions, 

 yields of from 9 to 12 tons per acre are 

 reported from the medium early varie- 

 ties. The early varieties yield, as a rule, 

 a less amount of forage. In the South, 

 where the later and coarser varieties 

 are grown, larger yields may be obtain- 

 ed. But in some parts of the South 

 the yields have been so light that the 

 crop has been regarded as an unprofitable 

 one to grow, and in some parts of colder 

 Northern States the season is too short 

 for any but the very earilest varieties, 

 and these often fail to mature seed. At 

 the South Carolina Station, yields of 2 

 to 2h tons of cured hay per acre are 

 reported, and similar amounts have been 

 obtained in many other portions of the 

 United States. In Japan, the earlier 

 varieties are said to afford on an average 

 from 1J to 2 tons of well-cured forage 

 per acre. At the North Carolina Sta- 

 tion, in an experiment in which the soy 

 bean and the cowpea were grown un- 

 der similar conditions, a yield of nearly 

 2j tons of well-cured hay was obtained 



from one acre of soy bean, while from 

 one a ire of cowpea a little less than a 

 ton was secured. 



Under ordinary conditions 25 to 40 

 bushels of seed per acre will be an 

 average yield. If the conditions are 

 very favourable, the' yield may reach 

 10U bushels. On the other hand, drought 

 " and poor soil may reduce the yield to 15 

 bushels or even less. In the experiments 

 by Professor Georgeson, mentioned in the 

 preceding pages, a yield of over eight 

 bushels per acre of well-cleaned seed 

 was obtained from a field planted after 

 a crop of rye had been harvested. In 

 this case the beans were cultivated 

 but once, and grew under very adverse 

 conditions of both soil and climate. 

 When it is remembered that this was 

 the second crop from the land that 

 season, and that the beans brought $2 

 per bushel, it will be seen that the 

 crop was a profitable one to grow. 



Chemical Composition, 



The following tables on the chemical 

 composition of the various parts of 

 the soy bean used for feeding purposes 

 have been aranged with great care, to 

 show as far as possible the latest and 

 best results obtained by experimenters 

 in the United States during the course 

 of their studies of this plant :— 



Chemical Composition of the abious Kinds op Forage Made 

 from the Soy Bean, 





Fresh or air-dry substance. 



Water-free sub- 

 stance. 



Soy-bean Forage. 



No. of analyses. 



Water. 



Protein. 



eg 



Nitrogen-free 

 extract. 



Fibre. 



Ash. 



Protein. 



eg 

 fc 



Nitrogen-free 

 extract. 



Fibre. 



Ash. 



Fodder (early bloom to early seed) 



13 



76-5 



3-6 



1-0 



10-1 



6-5 



2-3 



15-3 



4-1 



13-0 



27-6 



10-0 



Soy-bean hay (Japanese) 



1 



16-0 



16-9 



2-2 



23-1 



35-9 



5-9 



201 



2-6 



27-5 



42-7 



7-0 



Soy-bean hay (Mass) 



4 



121 



14-2 



4-1 



42-2 



21-1 



7-3 



16-2 



4'7 



46-8 



24-0 





Soy-bean straw (Mass) ... 



3 



11-4 



4-9 



1-9 



37-8 



37-6 



6'4 



5-5 



2-2 



42-7 



42-4 





Soy-bean straw (hulls and vines 











36-0 













after thrashing) 



1 



5-7 



4-0 



0-8 



49-5 



3-9 



4-25 



0-85 



38-2 



52-6 



5-3 



Soy-bean seed 



8 



10-8 



34-0 



16-9 



28-8 



4-8 



4-7 



381 



18-9 



32-2 



5-4 



5-3 



Soy-bean meal 



2 



10-4 



36-0 



18-9 



27-0 



2-6 



5-1 



10-2 



21-0 



30-2 



2-9 



5-7 



Soy-bean ensilage 



1 



74 2 



4-1 



2-2 



7-0 



9-7 



2-8 



15-7 



8-7 



27-0 



37'6 



u-o 



Corn and Soy-bean ensilage 



4 



76-0 



2-5 



0-8 



ll'l 



7-2 



2'4 



10-4 



3 '3 



46-3 



30 





Millet and Soy-bean ensilage 



9 



79-0 



2-8 



1-0 



7-2 



7-2 



2-8 



13-3 



4-8 



3f3 



31-3 





If the preceding analyses are compared 

 with those of other leguminous crops, 

 it will be seen that the soy bean ranks 

 high from a chemical point of view. 



The green fodder has much the same 

 composition as red clover, being slightly 

 lower in crude protein and higher in 

 crude fibre. In the two most important 



