ones in practical value, on account of its rich¬ 
ness in albumen and fat. 
Professor Haberland’s experiments show 
that the straw is very nutritious, and is eager¬ 
ly eaten by cows, so that cattle-growing will 
receive an important aid.” 
The beans which Professor Cook had were 
so few that they were planted in rows about 
three feet apart, and a foot apart in the row. 
The soil was a gaudy loam, in good condition, 
and they were planted, without manure, the 
latter part of May, and were entirely ripe at 
the beginning of October. They might, have 
been gathered earlier, and the stalks would 
have been better fodder. Their growth was 
luxuriant, and the stalks, w hich are quite 
branching, are enough coarser than common 
climbing beans for them to stand up, and their 
foliage is very heavy, though a little coarse 
and rough in appearance. 
Substances. 
Ash . 
Albuminoids . 
Fat . 
Carbhydrates . 
Camjiaratlve value 
100 IDS..... 
Timothy hay. 
1.5 
•J. 7 
2.2 
15.8 
$0.93 
Clover hay T . 
5.3 
12 2 
3.0 
38.2 
1.00 
Oat straw . 
1.0 
■i.o 
2,0 
36.2 
59 
Cured corn-fodder. 
1.3 
i.i 
1.3 
37.9 
59 
Indian corn. 
1.5 
10.7 
4.9 
lift. 5 
1.29 
1.25 
Oats .. 
2.7 
12.0 
6.0 
55 . t 
Wheat bran . 
5.1 
15.0 
3.2 
52.2 
1.26 
Malt dusi .. 
6.7 
25.9 
1.1 
1.7.5 
1.40 
Cotton seed cuke (decor,* 
Heated) . 
7.6 
88.8 
13.7 
19.5 
2.15 
Brewers’ grains . 
1.2 
■1 .<» 
1.6 
11.1 
.36 
Horse beans . 
3.1 
25.;-) 
i <; 
15.9 
1 59 
Soja Beaus ... 
4.8 
31.7 
18 3 
28.3 
2.55 
In this table the Soja Bean is shown to have 
the highest value of any of the substances 
named, and by mixing it with oat straw or 
cured corn fodder, it will make a i ieh and 
healthful fodder for cattle, and one which can 
be afforded in greater quantity and at less 
expense than first-quality timothy or clover 
hay. It would form, on, a proper crop to be 
in the rotation between com and wheat, in¬ 
stead of oats or potatoes, as now practiced. 
It is not subject to the same difficulties in cur¬ 
ing as our common field bean, as the beans do 
not easily shell out, and courser stalks enable 
it to be cured like Indian corn ; and being a 
sowed crop, it is cultivated with the mini¬ 
mum of labor. 
According to a writer in La Nature, the 
cultivation of the Soja or Soya has been 
largely developed in Austria-Hungary (be¬ 
sides Italy), and in various parts of France, 
notably at Etampes anil Montpelier. The 
writer expresses the opinion that it will prob¬ 
ably play as important a part, in the future as 
the potato, it grows in any soil, even the 
driest, and it furnishes an excellent fodder 
for cattle. 
The London Hardeners’ Chronicle says that 
the greatest use to which the plant is put in 
China and Japan is in preparation of soy and 
of various kinds of food from the ripe seeds. 
The manufacture of shoyu, or soy, is thus de¬ 
scribed in a descriptive catalogue of agricul¬ 
tural products of Japan, exhibited at the late 
Sydney International Exhibition: Equal 
parts of beans and wheat are used; a small 
part of the wheat is mixed with koji, which 
is an alcoholic preparation from rice, and al¬ 
lowed to ferment; the remainder is roasted, 
and the beaus are also roasted. The resisted 
beans and wheat are then mixed together with 
the fermenting wheat, placed in shallow, 
wooden boxes, and kept for some days at a 
fixed temperature in a warm chamber with 
thick walls until the whole mass is covered with 
fungus. It is very important that the tem¬ 
perature of this chamber should be kept at the 
proper print. By these processes part of the 
starch of the wheat is converted into dextrine 
and sugar, and lactic acid and acetic, acid are 
formed. It is then mixed with salt lye. The 
mashings are removed to large vats and kept 
there for at least BO months, but more often 
for three or five years, the better qualities 
being those that are kept for the louger pe¬ 
riods. The best soy is produced by mixing 
that kept for five years with that kept for three 
years. After it has been kept a sufficiently 
long time, it is strained through thick cotton 
bags, and the residue submitted to pressure. 
Before filtering, honey is sometimes added. 
The residue, after pressing, is again mixed 
with salt and water and again pressed, the 
yield being soy of an inferior kind. Some¬ 
times water is added to this second 
residue and it is again pres ed. The res¬ 
idue first obtained is occasionally used as 
food and tfie last residue as manure. Rltoyu, 
or soy, is a very important condiment; it is 
mixed wit h a great many kinds of food and is 
produced and consumed in very large quan¬ 
tities. Regarding the use of the soy beau as a 
vegetable in Japan, the writer of the forego¬ 
ing remarks on soy says: “ It is the vegetable 
which approaches nearest in chemical compo¬ 
sition to animal food (meat), containing, as it 
does, one-fifth of its weight of fat, and about 
two-fifths of nitrogenous matter. It is an ex¬ 
tremely valuable adjunct to the food of a peo¬ 
ple who subsist so largely on a purely vege¬ 
table diet, of which the bulk is rice, so rich in 
heat-producers—starch, and poor in flesh- 
formers—albuminoids. 
Seeds of the Soja Bean were sent to us by 
Mr. James J. H, Gregory, of Marblehead, 
Mass, at our request, last Winter. Mr. 
Gregory in a private note accompanying the 
seed said that it had surpassing vigor of vine, 
more so than the cow-pea, and be thought it 
would make a better soiling plant, “Stock 
eat it greedily when green, vines and all. It 
must have value as a forage plant fed when 
tbe beans are well firmed.' 1 The seeds at this 
(Rural) farm wore planted 15 inches apart in 
poorish, sandy soil, May 10. All germinated 
and grew freely and were not materially in¬ 
jured by tbe drought. They grew to the 
bight of from two to three feet. The habit of 
the plant is shrubby. Side branches start, two 
or three inches above the ground, from the 
main stem, which is always upright, and 
spread out and up bearing at each joint or 
node from one to]three or four beans, ns shown 
in the engraving. These adhere after the 
leaves have fallen, as with other beans, or as 
with peas, to the haulm, never, however, like 
them, shelling out. As the joints are but two 
or three inches apart, it will be seen that each 
plant bears a considerable quantity of beans. 
Tbe branches (B) are ab hairy like the pods, 
becoming quite woody, with little pith when 
ripe and dry. 
While the leaves and stemswere quite green 
our cattle eat them with evident relish, but 
the relish was less appareut as they ripened— 
and they were refused entirely alter bein cut 
and dried. From the above test we should 
never raise the Soja Bean as a fodder plant 
Many kinds of the cow-pea. as may be seen 
from our reports in these columns during 1S80, 
will yield five times the amount of vine and 
leaves. 
i^lisccUancows. 
MORRIS, MINN. 
Topography, Soil, Resources and Rail¬ 
roads of Stevens County -M orris, 
the County Seat and Com¬ 
mercial Center. 
MESSRS. HOLMES AND SWKKTLAND. 
(Special Correspondents of the Ruuai. New Youkkii.] 
Picturesque landscapes from the brushes 
of distinguished artists give in graceful out¬ 
line elevations overlooking valleys, meadows 
and fields; lakes upon whose placid bosoms 
lovers and youth are whiling away hours of 
leisure in boating and wooing; or views of 
anglers securing the trout, pickerel, pike or 
bass as trophies of sporting; reaches of rivers, 
creeks or l>rook3 winding their courses between 
pasture and grove with herds upon either side, 
grazing or resting in the ample shade; cozy 
homos ami ample barns with every aspect of 
rural comfort, with scenes of plowing, seed¬ 
ing, harvesting, all bespeaking happiness and 
prosperity, and in the background a railway 
train steaming away with earth’s fruitage to 
bring back the necessities or even luxuries of 
life to the most independent of all Gofl’s noble 
workers—ties farmer. And these worthy pro¬ 
ductions of art are admired, studied, criticized 
and often purchased at fabulous prices to 
adorn the libraries, drawing-rooms aud gal¬ 
leries of connoisseurs who are as ignorant of 
the healthful, invigorating enjoyment afforded 
by the reality of the scenes depicted, and the 
relish they give to noble ambition in husband¬ 
ry, as a Choctaw is of court etiquette. 
The outlines we have given ure those which 
nature has generously bestowed upon Stevens 
County, Minnesota, lying upon the outskirts 
of the wondrous “ Park Region” of this State, 
where ail the cereals and loot crops can be 
raised in profusion, many fruits do well, and 
where nutritious grazing (with a protective 
herd law), healthful climate, pure water and 
ample shade and shelter are afforded by tbe 
numerous groves and timber skirtings to en¬ 
courage the growing of sheep, cattle, hogs and 
horses of improved grades. The soil is rich 
and fertile; there are 115 lakes, some 25 of 
which are of considerable size, abounding in 
fish, and fringed with timber of hard wood 
varieties. These sheets of water beautify the 
surface of the country, aid in the maturity of 
the crops, furnish water for stock, aud in sea¬ 
son abundance of game for the sportsman. 
To be sure, much interest is shown here in 
raising thoroughbred Short horns, but in real¬ 
ity only the beginning of what might and 
ought to be where the advantages are so ex¬ 
cellent; and iu sheep culture the farmers are 
almost censurable for neglecting as much as 
they have a branch of industry so well pro¬ 
vided for, and ut the same time so cheap and 
profitable. The same criticism may be made 
regarding dairy products, as every facility for 
success in dairying exists, and yet there is not 
a creamery in the county, though there is cer¬ 
tainly an excellent opening for half a dozen. 
If the example of Northern Iowa were emula¬ 
ted, people here could soon acquire the same 
reputation, both in the United States and 
Europe, which the Ilawkeyes now enjoy as a 
monopoly, for their creamery batter. 
The fact is, the farmers here seem to know 
but one word in tbe vocabulary of husbandry, 
and that is—wheat, and in this they are doing 
well; but a diversity of interests would cer¬ 
tainly increase their profits and secure them 
against contingencies of loss. Corn will aver¬ 
age 50 bushels to the acre; flax, in which there 
is a growing interest, does well, and every 
farmer should set an orchard of apple trees— 
the Duchess of Oldenburg, Wealthy, Melin 
da (?) or some other hardy varieties—aud en¬ 
courage the prolific growth of grapes, cur¬ 
rants, gooseberries, rasp) terries and straw¬ 
berries. 
The population of the county in J une, 1880, 
was 3,914; it is now fully 4,500 and with only 
about one-eighth of the county under cultiva¬ 
tion ; farms are selliug at from 810 to 815 per 
acre, and lands from 80 to 810 per acre; the 
value of the taxable real estate is 8850,277, and 
that of the personal property $841,525, estima¬ 
ted at only about one-third the actual values. 
There is no bonded aud only a nominal float¬ 
ing debt. The taxes, aside from the school 
tax, which varies in localities, are only 12 
mills. 
The County Agricultural Society, organized 
under State law, gives annual exhibitions 
upon the grounds of the Morris Driving Park 
Association, which has about 80 acres and per¬ 
manent, first elass improvements. These an¬ 
nual gatherings ought to be made the most 
pleasant and profitable to the farmers of any 
in the year, whore they can compare notes, 
profit by each others’ experience and fortify 
themselves .against errors and adversities; but 
it should be remembered that the greatest 
measure of success is to be assured only by 
each one recognizing his individuality and 
feeling that he is individually responsible for 
its accomplishment. To meet the growing 
interest in flax culture, Mr, L, H. Stanton 
(son of Hon. E. M. Stanton, late Secretary 
of War) and others will build an elevator at 
Morris for handling and cleaning flax exclu¬ 
sively, the coming year. 
MORRIS, 
the county seat, at the national census of 
1880 had 7:34 population, while a conservative 
estimate now would accord it 1,150. It is 
built on a pretty site, with vistas of hill, 
dale, grove and lake. It is regularly laid 
out aud has quite a number of attractive 
residences, around which lawns, trees aud 
shrubbery afford embellishment. It possesses 
intelligent and refined society, principally 
American; earnest, enterprising business men; 
four churches — Congregational, Episcopal, 
Methodist and Catholic; prosperous lodges of 
the A. F. & A. M, and A. 0. U. W., repre¬ 
senting and sustained by the best citizens; a 
school property worth 87,000, a graded school 
of four departments and teachers, with a 
High School division—total average attend¬ 
ance about 155; and besides these the Catho¬ 
lics have a prosperous Parish school. 
The Morris Tribune is an eight-column 
folio, ably edited by W, J. Munro. There is 
ample banking capital, and a business, in¬ 
cluding certain private interests connect¬ 
ed therewith, and properly included, of 
over $2,000,000. The permanent improvements 
for the year foot up $100,050, and the com¬ 
mercial business, we are assured, amounted to 
$2,942,000. There are three elevators with a 
total capacity of 100,000 bushels, and the past 
year there has been a wheat market of 350,- 
000 bushels. The Board of Trade, for the 
protection aud promotion of public interests, 
includes all the best business men of the 
place. The post office ranks third-class, anil 
lias sold stamps and postal cards to the value 
of $3,105, and money orders to the value of 
over $10,000 the . pust year. An excellent 
quality of brick clay and building stone is 
easily and cheaply obtainable. There are 
also two flouring mills of large capacity and 
other minor manufacturing interests. 
There is a hall for public entertainments, 
but to keep pace with the embryo city there 
is need of a first-class Academy of Music or 
Opera House. There is also need of a good 
hotel, a wagon shop, a foundry and machine 
shops, flax and tow mills, creameries, a can¬ 
ning establishment, a merchant tailor, a fur¬ 
niture factory, a manufactory of products 
from straw, a watchmaker and jeweler, a 
barber anil a. gunsmith; aud the farmers of 
the county deed, and ought to subscribe for, 
at least 1,000 copies of the Rural New- 
Yorker as u necessary aid to prosperity. 
The Fotume de Torre River runs near the 
town; two'dams have already been constructed, 
one with a fd.j feet fall and the other with 
about eight feet, furnishing mill power. 
There are also two or three other power sites 
that might be improved for additional manu¬ 
facturing interests, within seven miles. 
Morris has the promise of becoming one of 
the prominent railroad centers of the State. 
It is on the main line of the St. Paul, Minne¬ 
apolis and Manitoba R. R., from which the 
Brown Valley Branch diverges at this point. 
The Little Falls and Dakota R. R. connects 
here with the Northern Pacific and will be in 
operation through Sauk Center to Little Falls, 
83 miles from here, next season, and the grad¬ 
ing will be completed through and west of 
Morris in 1882. The St. Cloud and Lake 
Traverse R. R., upon which a large amount 
of work has been completed, w ill be in opera¬ 
tion to Morris by July, 1882. These two last 
not only opou trade with localities that must 
pay tribute to Morris and furnish ample 
competition in rates, etc., but they provide 
direct communication with the best oak, ash 
and other hnnl-wood lumber in the State, 
aud only about 75 miles distant; hence the ad¬ 
vantage in the manufacturing referred to. 
Memory lingers upon our brief acquaint¬ 
ance at Morris with pleasure aud fond antici¬ 
pations for the future of this growing place; 
the society is cultured, being principally from 
New York, Pennsylvania and New England, 
and one feels intuitively at home. The Board 
of Trade has organized a series of local enter¬ 
tainments of a highly intellectual order, sel¬ 
ling tickets at $4 for tbe series, and other at¬ 
tractions correspond. Correspondence ad¬ 
dressed to the Secretary of the Board would 
receive courteous attention. 
HOW TO GROW FIGS IN THE NORTH. 
1 have now fruited figs successfully for 
the last five or six years, and as I am not 
aware that my method is known to any ex¬ 
tent I will give it for the benefit of others. I 
commenced, I think, about six years ago 
with five trees; for two years I kept them in 
half-barrel tubs, and kept them in my fruit 
house cellar in Winter, and planted them in 
my garden when there was no danger from 
frost in the Spring. I found, however, that 
they suffered from drought, although I 
watered them in the tubs after planting them 
out. About four years ago 1 gave up the tubs, 
and as the roots are short and very fibrous 
I have planted them in the garden every 
Spring and dug them up after the first frost 
in Autumn and planted them in damp sand in 
the cellar, and every year I have had a good 
crop of figs in August. This year I had as 
many as my family wanted and a good sup¬ 
ply to send to my friends. My trees are from 
five to seven feet high when planted. When 
the first crop is about half grown a second 
crop sets, and when the first crop is ripe the 
second is from half to two-thirds grown, but 
our seasons hero are too short for 
the fruit to ripen. Some 40 years ago 
I was familiar with figs in New' 
Orleans and became fond of them. Those 
grown by me here are as good as I ever saw 
at the South, an 1 I find it as easy to grow 
figs as any other small fruit for family use. 
To grow them for market the removal of the 
trees to the cellar would bo an objection, but 
for family use it is but little trouble and less 
than the expense of wintering strawberries. 
Clinton Co., N. Y. John W. Bailey. 
-- 
CATALOGUES, Etc. 
Catalogue of the North Star Reed Farms, 
T. M. Metcalf, Proprietor, Saint Paul, Minn. 
We are glad to see such evidences of enter¬ 
prise among our seedsmen of the far West. 
The lists of field, garden and flower seeds fur¬ 
nish about all that is worth cultivation. The 
catalogue contains 2(5 large pages illustra¬ 
ted, and wdli be sent free to those wdio apply 
for it to tbe above establishment. 
Scientific. 
TEMPERATURE OF THE BODY AFTER 
EATING. 
PROFESSOR F. H. STORER, 
It is a matter of not infrequent popular de¬ 
flate whether the body is cooler or warmer 
after a meal has been eaten than it was before. 
The opinions of different individuals will be 
found to vary upon this subject very much in 
accordance with the variations in their modes 
of life. The laboring man who comes in to his 
dinner hungry and cold and goes out warm and 
satisfied will not unnaturally have a very de¬ 
cided opinion of his own about the heating 
power of food—an opinion which he is not in¬ 
clined to give up on the testimony of invalids 
and of sensitive or sedentary people. Probably 
the more general Impression iu the community 
is that the body i“, or ought to be, warmer 
after eating; uml perhaps the commonest ex¬ 
perience which tends to cast a doubt on this 
lielief is the fact that on rising from a meal and 
returning to the room which was occupied 
w ith perfect comfort before eating there is not 
infrequently felt, in Winter weather, a sense 
