18 BULLETIN 439, TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
POSSIBILITY OF DEVELOPING A MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY WITH 
AMERICAN-GROWN SOY BEANS. 
The large annual importations of soy beans, oil, and cake into the 
United States during the last few years indicate a ready market for 
products obtained from American-grown beans. The demand for the 
oil, especially in the manufacture of soap, and its possibilities in the 
manufacture of paints are very large, and it should be a strong com- 
petitor of other vegetable oils, for which the demand is constantly 
increasing both in this country and in Europe. When the meal 
becomes properly recognized as a feed material for the production of 
beef and butter, there will be practically an unlimited market for 
it as feed. In the dairy countries of Europe, oil meals form a most 
important part in the stock rations. Denmark feeds more than a 
tenth of a ton of cottonseed cake (besides other kinds of oil cake) per 
head of cattle per year. If the cattle in the United States were to 
be fed at the same rate, the total oil cake or meals of all kinds pro- 
duced in this country would be insufficient to supply the demand. 
The numerous experiments being conducted in the preparation of 
soy-bean products for human food will doubtless result in a much 
larger use of the meal for this purpose. 
It is not expected that the soy-bean industry will develop in the 
near future to the extent attained in Manchuria. This industry 
should, however, develop gradually and the soy bean become an 
important crop in the regions most favorably situated for seed pro- 
duction, especially the cotton belt. Since the boll weevil first entered 
Texas in 1892, it has been an increasingly important factor in the 
annual production of cottonseed. At the present time the weevil is 
found more or less extensively in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Okla- 
homa, and Alabama and is annually extending its range from 40 to 
70 miles. From available statistics it has been estimated that the 
weevil causes a reduction of at least 50 per cent of the cotton crop in 
regions invaded by it. As the range of the weevil is gradually extend- 
ing eastward, where conditions are more favorable for greater damage 
to the cotton crop, it is readily seen that the quantity of cottonseed 
available for oil and meal production will be affected to a greater or 
lesser extent. In Table XI the effect of the boll weevil on the pro- 
duction of cottonseed is plainly shown. The soy bean offers an 
excellent opportunity to the planter to adjust his plantation man- 
agement so that he can offset the weevil damage and with profit to 
himself furnish the cotton-oil mill owners a source of oil and meal. 
