16 BULLETIN" 439, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
industry many new trade uses for the oil have been found, and on 
account of its lower cost it has become an important competitor of 
other vegetable oils. 
One of the principal uses of the oil in Asiatic countries, chiefly 
China, is for food, it being consumed largely in the crude state by the 
poorer classes, but among the rich it is boiled and allowed to stand 
until clarified. The oil is also utilized in the Orient in the manu- 
facture of foodstuffs, paints, waterproof goods, soap, varnish, and 
printing ink, and for lubricating and lighting. 
Soy-bean oil was at first used in Europe and America in its crude 
state principally in the manufacture of soft soaps. It is now claimed 
that some soap manufacturers have a secret process by which the oil 
can be utilized in the manufacture of the best grades of hard soap' 
To some extent it is being refined and placed on the European 
markets as an edible table oil. The refined oil is also used in the 
manufacture of butter substitutes, and in the Mediterranean coun- 
tries to blend for salad oil. In the search by manufacturers for new 
oils to replace Unseed oil for paint purposes partly or wholly, soy- 
bean oil was found the most suitable. In Europe and the United 
States, paint grinders are using large quantities of soy-bean oil suc- 
cessfully in the manufacture of certain types of paint. Other trade 
uses of this oil are the manufacture of linoleum and of a rubber sub- 
stitute, for which a factory has been established in Germany. 
As the process of refining soy-bean oil is improved and perfected 
there seems to be scarcely any use in which oil has a part in the 
manufacture of foodstuffs to which it will not be an important 
adjunct. 
Soy-bean oil has been studied with other oils in a series of experi- 
ments carried on by the Office of Home Economics and found to 
compare favorably with the more common culinary table oils with 
respect to the thoroughness with which it is assimilated. 
ANALYSES OF IMPORTANT VARIETIES OF SOY BEANS. 
Chemical analyses indicate that considerable variation in compo- 
sition exists among varieties of soy beans. In determining the range 
in the oil and protein contents of over 500 varieties grown in the 
variety tests at Arlington Farm, Va., the percentage of oil was 
found to range from 11.8 to 22.5 and of protein from 31 to 46.9. 
The composition of the principal varieties grown in the United States 
shows a very wide range in the percentage of oil (11.8 to 20.3) and 
also of protein (34.1 to 46.9) when grown in any one locality. At 
the present time the Mammoth Yellow variety is most generally 
grown throughout the South and is the one used in the production 
of oil. The yellow-seeded varieties, which are most suitable for the 
production of oil and meal, contain the highest percentage of oil. 
