Edible Products. 



330 



[October, 1908. 



in a measure, be overcome by miming the 

 hay through a feed cutter before feeding 

 it. All things considered, the soy bean 

 cannot be used for hay as advanta- 

 geously as for soiling or for ensilage. 

 Nevertheless, it may often be profitably 

 grown for this purpose, as, for example, 

 in short rotations and in localities where 

 clover cannot be relied upon. 



As a Pasture Plant. 

 In some parts of the country, parti- 

 cularly in the South, the soy bean crop 

 is often pastured. Although hogs are 

 perhaps most frequently used, all kinds 

 of stock can be pastured on it. The crop 

 can often be fed in this manner to a 

 great advantage. The labour and ex- 

 pense of harvesting is saved and the 

 droppings from the animals are of great 

 value to the land. Young stock, parti- 

 cularly sheep and hogs, can be very pro- 

 fitably pastured on this crop. Many 

 farmers maintain that by this method of 

 feeding the land is benefited as much as 

 if the crop had been ploughed under, and 

 they obtain the pasturage in addition. 



As a Soil Renewer. 



One of the great advantages in grow- 

 ing leguminous forage crops lies in the 

 benefit which the soil derives from the 

 nitrogen and other important elements 

 of plant food that are left in it by the 

 crops. Soils that have become impover- 

 ished by continuous cropping with 

 small grains or other nitrogen-using 

 crops may be restored to fertility by 

 the use of leguminous crops, as, for ex- 

 ample, the clovers, cowpeas, vetches, 

 lupines, and the soy bean. The value of 

 a crop as a soil restorer depends upon 

 the amount of available plant food which 

 it adds to the soil, and also upon the 

 effect which the roots have upon the 



mechanical condition of the soil. Legu- 

 minous plants, through the aid of the 

 root tubercle organisms, are able to add 

 to the available nitrogen of the soil, and 

 hence are extensively used in restoring 

 those deficient in that element. 



The soy bean is highly valued in Japan 

 as a nitrogen gatherer, and is extensively 

 grown in rotation with cereal crops. 

 When the soy bean was first introduced 

 into the United States it did not form 

 root tubercles, owing to the absence of 

 the tubercle organism from the soil, and 

 it has been grown for several years in 

 some localities without the appearance 

 of any tubercles. In other cases the 

 tubercles have developed in great abund- 

 ance after a short time. At the Massa- 

 chusetts (Hatch) Station the medium 

 green soy bean produces great numbers 

 of the tubercles. At the same station it 

 was found that a liberal application of 

 nitrates interfered with the develop- 

 ment of the tubercles. 



In experiments made at the (Storrs) 

 Experiment Station soy beans were 

 planted in soil uninf ested with the tuber- 

 cle microbes, and then later in the sea- 

 son (about the middle of July) a portion 

 of the field was inoculated with infected 

 soil. Tubercles were produced on the 

 plants in the inoculated land, but, owing 

 to the lateness of the inoculation, they 

 made but little development, and no 

 difference could be noticed between the 

 crops grown on the two parts of the field. 



The manurial value of a crop of soy 

 bean compares very favourably with 

 that of other legumes commonly grown 

 as green manures. In the following 

 table is given a comparison of the ferti- 

 lizing ingredients contained in the crop 

 and roots produced on an acre by soy 

 beans, cowpeas, and red clover : — 



Yield op Green Forage per Acre, and Fertilizing Ingredients in Crop and 

 Roots op the Soy Beans, Cowpeas, and Clover. 



Crops. 



Soy Bean .. 

 Cowpea 

 Ked Clover 



Green 



Nitrogen. 



Potash (K 2 0). 



Phosphoric acid. 

 (PjOO. 



Forage. 



In 



Crop. 



In 



Roots, 

 etc. 



Total. 



In 



Crop. 



In 



Roots, 

 etc. 



Total. 



In 

 Crop, 



In 

 Roots, 

 etc. 



Total. 



Tons. 

 8 



13 



lbs. 

 165 

 67 

 138 



lbs. 

 9 



23 

 44 



lbs. 

 174 

 90 

 182 



lbs. 

 109 

 60 

 152 



lbs. 

 6 

 15 



32 



lbs. 

 115 

 75 

 184 



lbs. 



42 

 17 

 32 



lbs. 



2 

 6 

 13 



lbs. 

 44 



23 

 45 



At the Massachusetts (State) Station it 

 was estimated that the cash value of the 

 essential fertilizing ingredients (nitrogen, 

 phosphoric acid, and potash) contained in 

 a ton of green soy bean fodder would be 

 about$2"44and that of cowpeas about $2*23. 



When a crop of soy bean or cowpea is 

 turned under for green manure, it 

 should be well limed. This will obviate 

 the bad effects sometimes experienced 

 when a very heavy crop of legumes is 

 ploughed under. 



