farm (Topics 
NOTES FROM THE EXPERIMENTAL 
GROUNDS OF THE RURAL 
NEW-YORKER. 
The Hairy So,ja Bean, of which an original 
sketch is now presented, which is somewhat 
reduced in size, was first brought to our notice 
by Professor Geo. H. Cook, of the Rutgers 
Scientific School, of New Brunswick, New 
Jersey, though we believe it has been culti- 
plantwere procured at Vienna by Mr. James 
Neilson. Both planted them and gathered 
crops of the different kinds iu 1879. The fol¬ 
lowing is a translation of a part of a paper 
sent out from the Bavarian Experiment Sta¬ 
tion to those who were growing and testing 
the capabilities of the plant: 
“ Two years ago Professor Haberland, of 
Vienna, an untiring botauical experimenter, 
introduced to us a plant whose pleasant-tast- 
ing seeds are rich in albumen and fat in very 
digestible forms. This plant is the Hairy 
Soja Bean (Soja hispida, Mbnch). Professor 
Haberland found samples of the seed at the 
with medium,three-parted,oval pointed leave 
hairy on both sides. The small, reddish flow¬ 
ers are axillary. The pod (A) is one to one-and- 
a-half inch long and three-eighths of an inch 
broad; a stiff-haired, laterally-closed pod, con¬ 
taining two or three oval, yellow or brown 
seeds the size of the field pea (C). Its large 
leaves shade the ground and improve its phy¬ 
sical properties. 
In 1870, 20 experiments were made in va¬ 
rious parts of Bohemia, Moravia, Southern 
Austria, Styria. Hungary and Upper Silesia. 
From the well ripened seeds from these crops 
185 trials were made the next year under va- 
and the Soja straw, with the following re¬ 
sults: 
Constituents. 
Original 
Seed. 
New Seed. 
Soja Straw. 
1st 
crop 
n 
3 CL 
Albuminoids. 
80.56 
34.:17 
34.97 
9.43 
Fat. 
15.81 
IS. 25 
IS. 39 
2.51 
Carbhydrates. 
33.80 
28.82 
86.03 
Fiber. 
t.ivr 
4 jjq 
Ash. 
5.12 
4.7fi 
in 14 
Water. 
7.96 
8.62 
7.89 
12.44 
The following table of the analyses of Ger¬ 
man broad beans and peas is for purposes of 
comparison: 
NEW FODDER PLANTS—THE HAIRY SOJA BEAN.—FROM NATURE.— Fig 
vated by a few in this country for many 
years. In reply to a letter requesting Profes¬ 
sor Cook to furnish us whatever information 
respecting this plant he might be possessed of, 
he says that when in Munich in 1878, he saw the 
Soja Bean in cultivation, as « new crop, and 
probably a desirable addition to our forage 
products. It w'as seen in the grounds of the 
Bavarian Agricultural Experiment Station, 
and was in very vigorous growth. The gen¬ 
tleman in charge gave him a few seeds; and 
seeds of several other varieties of the same 
Vienna Exposition among the agricultural 
products of China, Japan, Mongolia, Trans¬ 
caucasia and India. He says this plant has 
been cultivated from early ages. It grows 
wild in the Malay Archipelago, Java and the 
East Indies, and is cultivated extensively in 
China and Japan. Us seeds, boiled or roasted, 
have a pleasant taste, and form an almost 
daily paid; of the food iu India, China and 
Japan. 
The Soja is an annual leguminous plant, 
with a stalk from 12 to 18 inches high, and 
rious climatic influences. Professor Haber¬ 
land has written us that only 12 of the experi¬ 
ments failed, and most of the results were 
unusually good. 
According to Professor Haberland there are 
several varieties of the Soja, w hich vary 
much in their time of ripening. For the cli¬ 
mate of Middle Europe the early kind is best. 
Sown early in May the seeds mature at the 
end of September or October. 
Professor Schwackerhofer, of Vienna, has 
analyzed the original and the harvested seed, 
Or ndltuents. 
Albuminoids. 
Fat. 
Curbhydrates. 
Filer. 
Asli. 
Water. .. 
Seeds. 
y-. 
E 5? 
26.5 
1.6 
15.9 
9.4 
8.1 
U.5 
22.4 
2.0 
52.5 
(1.4 
2 4 
U.S 
6.5 
1.0 
84.0 
8s .0 
4.5 
lfi.O 
From these we see plainly that if the Soja 
Bean will give sure crops in our climate, we 
have in it a fodder far exceeding our present 
