Oils, 



208 



September, 1909. 



for soap, for lubricating aud also for 

 human food. 



The soy bean is essentially an Asiatic 

 product and comes mainly from Man- 

 churia. There is reason to believe that 

 it has been tried in various parts of the 

 world, but has not proved a success, 

 requiring a tropical climate. It is culti- 

 vated on a considerable scale in India 

 already, but mostly only for local use 

 as a food-stuff or as green manure, and 

 there appears to be no large supply 

 available for export at the present time. 

 In view, however, of the very large 

 demand to which we have referred, it 

 seems to be worth while to determine 

 whether it would not be profitable to 

 undertake the cultivation of soy beans 

 in India as a regular crop for export. 

 The bean will grow fairly well where- 

 ever maize can be grown ; and, like 

 many other leguminous plants, it has 

 the property of enriching in nitrogen 

 the soil in which it is grown, so that it 

 is particularly suitable for cultivation 

 in rotation with maize and similar crops. 

 This last consideiation will probably 

 weigh with the Indian agriculturist, 

 who is not always in a position to 

 purchase manures to improve the out- 

 put of his fields ; while Indian exports 

 of this product would enjoy an advan- 

 tage over those from Manchuria in the 

 matter of occean freight. 



In Farmers, Bulletin No. 58, published 

 by the United States Department of 

 Agriculture, the soy bean is dealt with 

 exhaustively from every point of view. 

 It is there stated that the bean thrives 

 best in soils of medium texture, well 

 supplied with lime, potash, and phos- 

 phoric acid. It endures drought well, 

 and is not easily injured by excess of 

 moisture. The early varieties are best 

 for seed crops, and the medium or late 

 varieties for hay, forage, and silage. 

 Seeds may be planted at any time during 

 the spring and early summer, but 

 preferably as soon as the ground be- 

 comes well warmed up. If sown broad- 

 cast, about three-quarters of a bushel of 

 seed to the acre are required, but only 

 half a bushel if drilled. Little cultivation 

 is needed when growing for forage ; 

 when for seed, weeds must be kept down 

 until the plants shade the soil. The soy 

 bean may be used for soiling, pasturage, 

 hay, and ensilage, or the beans may be 

 harvested and fed as grain. The forage 

 is very rich in fat and muscle-making 

 materials, and should be fed with fodder 

 corn, sorghum, or some other feeding 

 stuff rich in fat-forming nutrients. The 

 seed can be fed to the best advantage 

 when ground into meal, and is almost 

 without equal as a concentrated food. 

 It is cut for hay when the plants are in 



late bloom or early fruit ; for ensilage 

 the crop can be cut later, but it is better 

 to cut before the pods begin to ripen ; 

 for green forage, cutting may begin 

 earlier and continue rather later than 

 for either hay or ensilage ; the crop 

 may be cut for seed after the pods 

 become about half ripe. The soy bean 

 is also excellent for green manuring. 



There is reason to believe that the soy 

 bean cake is making headway in England 

 not only on account of its cheapness, 

 but also owing to its superiority over 

 its rivals. For instance, we see it stated 

 in a London newspaper that Professor 

 Douglas A. Gilchrist recently carried 

 out certain trials to test the comparative 

 feeding values of soy and decorticated 

 cotton cake. These trials were carried 

 out at Newton Rigg, the Cumberland 

 and Westmorland Farm School, under 

 the supervision of the manager, Mr. W. 

 T. Lawrence. Three cows and three 

 heifers, after their first calf, were set 

 apart on February 6th, 1909, for these 

 experiments, which continued for twelve 

 weeks. They were all at an early stage 

 of their lactation period at the com- 

 mencement; and, since the milk natur- 

 ally declined in quantity as the trials 

 progressed, it was decided to feed soy 

 cake during the first and last three 

 weeks, and decorticated cotton cake 

 during the middle six weeks. The total 

 milk yield of six weeks (throughout the 

 first and last three weeks), when thev 

 were receiving soy cake, was 5,576 lbs. 

 or an average of 22£th lbs. (equal to 

 2 1/7 th gallons) per cow daily ; while the 

 total milk yield of the same cows during 

 the middle six weeks, when they were 

 receiving decorticated cotton cake, was 

 5,438 lbs. or an average of 21|th lbs, 

 (equal to 2/llth gallons) per cow daily. 

 So far as milk production, therefore, is 

 concerned there was a slight advantage 

 in favour of soy cake. The milk of the 

 cows that received soy cake contained 

 3*7 per cent, fat in the first three weeks 

 and 4'1 per cent, fat in the last three 

 weeks. This is equal to an average of 

 3-9 per cent. fat. The milk of the cows 

 that received decorticated cotton cake 

 in the middle six weeks contained on 

 the average 3*9 per cent. fat. Both 

 foods, therefore, gave the same results 

 as far as the fat content of the milk is 

 concerned. Each cow gained 10| th lbs. 

 in live weight during the six weeks they 

 were receiving soy cake, and 6th lbs. 

 during, the six weeks they were receiving 

 decorticated cotton cake. The advantage 

 in this respect is, therefore, again in 

 favour of the soy cake. 



There seems to be no reason to doubt 

 that the trade in soy beans, in the 

 United Kingdom at least, will rapidly 



