618 
THE RURAL* NEW-YORKER 
sive adoption of control measures throughout that 
section. 
The danger threatening the average grower during 
the past year will be better understood from the fol¬ 
lowing estimates: The price paid for hops during 
the past three seasons was high, during the past sea¬ 
son abnormally high, being about 50 cents per pound. 
The yield ran from 500 pounds or less in some cases 
to 1,000 pounds per acre and more in a few of the 
best yards. The farmer stood a chance to lose most 
of this, since at the time of the mildew attack nearly 
all the work necessary for the production of the crop 
has been done except harvesting. A severe attack of 
mildew uncontrolled brought about a complete loss in 
many cases. 
The measure used most largely and most effectively 
during the past season has been the dusting of the 
vines with flowers of sulphur. The flowers of sulphur 
were used most largely in preference to flour sulphur 
because of the grades on the market; the flowers of 
sulphur are uniformly fine, while the flour sulphur 
varies greatly in fineness. It is a matter of experi¬ 
ence that this fine sulphur, though more expensive 
per pound, is as cheap to use, because a pound goes 
farther and may confidently be expected to be more 
effective. European experimenters have conducted 
many experiments to determine how sulphur acts, and 
the opinion generally held there is that its action is 
due to the oxidation of the sulphur to form a solution 
of sulphurous and sulphuric acid on the vines. Pre¬ 
suming this to be the action it may be seen that the 
rate of this action would be proportional to the sur¬ 
faces of the sulphur exposed; thus the pound of fine 
sulphur should be many times more effective. 
The sulphur is applied to the vines dry by means of 
a machine fitted with a revolving fan blower. This 
fan is geared to the wheels of the cart on which it is 
mounted. It has a hopper from which the sulphur is 
fed into the tube outlet from the fan and blown out in 
the form of a cloud which should entirely envelop the 
hop plants, leaving a coating of the finely divided 
sulphur on every part. This is a comparatively inex¬ 
pensive process, since it requires only one man and a 
horse to operate the machine and a barrel of flowers 
of sulphur is sufficient for one application on three 
or four acres. The cost for labor as given by a re¬ 
liable grower was $3.50 for 12 acres. 
In regard to the results secured, they were highly 
satisfactory, where the sulphur was applied in time 
and the work thoroughly done. In yards where the 
sulphuring was begun before the mildew appeared and 
repeated at frequent intervals, the growers suffered 
practically no loss at all, and the hops could safely be 
allowed to remain on the vines until they were fully 
matured. Much good was also accomplished b v sul¬ 
phuring after the mildew had a good start, : -.i some 
cases resulting in the saving of nearly the entire crop. 
Where the mildew was allowed to go unchecked dur¬ 
ing the flowering period, the hops did not develop at 
all, but became simply dried-up mummies of the flow¬ 
ers. Later in the season the effect was principally 
to hasten maturity, at the same time dwarfing the hop 
entirely or in part. These hops lost their bright color 
and later gradually turned brown. Such hops were 
light weight, contained less lupulin and the color was 
often damaged. t. n. blodgett. 
Cornell Agl. College. 
CULTURE OF SOY BEANS. 
On page 292 I saw a short article describing how a 
farmer in southwestern Ohio is using Soy beans to 
feed his dairy cattle. I agree with your statement that 
Soy beans ought to be grown to a greater extent in 
New York. A few farmers in the State have been 
growing them successfully, but as a forage crop the 
beans are hardly known, and their value not appre¬ 
ciated in many localities where they might be grown. 
I know of several farmers who are enthusiastic in 
their praise of Soy beans. One of them recently said 
“It is not a lazy man’s crop.” I hope that is not the 
whole reason why so few men relatively care to make 
a serious effort at growing so valuable a crop. I want 
to state some reasons why the crop ought to be grown 
more extensively, and how it has been done. 
The Soy bean plant makes a splendid forage crop 
because it is rich in protein when compared with com¬ 
mon hay and corn fodder or silage. It is very pala¬ 
table to cattle, sheep, swine and poultry. As a soiling 
crop there is no difficulty in growing and feeding it 
If allowed to ripen its seed and the beans are sepa¬ 
rated by thrashing, the beans can be ground into a 
meal that is equal to linseed meal in feeding value. 
Sheep and swine will do their own thrashing and 
grinding when the dry, ripe bean plants are fed to 
them. If the weather is suitable for curing the bean 
plants before the leaves begin to drop, good nutri¬ 
tious hay can be made. The woody stems are hard 
to cure, and hay-making weather is very uncertain 
t after September first. For the man who owns a silo 
no better method of preserving Soy beans can be 
found than to ensile a mixture of Soy beans and 
corn fodder in the proper proportions. The addition 
of Soy beans to corn fodder makes a silage that is 
more nearly a balanced ration than silage made from 
corn alone. The high protein content of the Soy 
beans balances the high per cent of carbohydrates in 
corn fodder enough so that less grain or purchased 
concentrates are needed in the ration fed to dairy 
cattle. Not more than one-third of the silage should 
CORN AND SOY BEANS. Fig. 182. 
be Soy bean fodder, and less than one-fourth will give 
good results in feeding. Soy beans alone in the silo 
make a strong silage with a disagreeable odor. 
Soy beans are nitrogen gatherers when inoculated 
with the bacteria which are capable of producing 
tubercles on their roots. The inoculation may be 
easily done by means of soil from a field which grew 
inoculated Soy bean plants previously. If such soil 
cannot be obtained without considerable expense I 
would use commercial cultures of bacteria made for 
this specific crop. I have seen splendid inoculation 
result from the use of these pure cultures. The large 
tubercles were found on the stem or near it on the 
largest roots, showing that the bacteria which were 
sticking to the inoculated seed beans had caused the 
tubercles to grow there. Inoculation with soil scat¬ 
tered over the ground and harrowed in produced tu¬ 
bercles singly and in clusters as shown in Fig. 183. If 
you plant Soy beans on land that has never grown the 
crop it will be best to inoculate either the soil or the 
seed. Inoculation may not produce any increased 
growth of the plants, but experiments have shown that 
it does increase the per cent of nitrogen stored in the 
roots and stalks of the Soy beans. The crop which 
follows Soy beans in a rotation will testify as to the 
benefit derived from nitrogen gathered by the beans 
and left in the roots and tubercles in the soil. Where 
the nitrogen supply is abundant in the soil few tuber¬ 
cles will be found on Soy bean roots, but the plants 
will make a normal growth. Inoculation is most 
beneficial on soils poor in available nitrogen. Where 
Soy beans and corn are grown as a mixed fodder in 
the same row or hill some persons have claimed that 
the corn grew better because the Soy beans were 
SOY BEANS FROM INOCULATED SOIL. Fig. 183. 
there than did corn grown alone. If this is a fact the 
explanation is not hard. The nitrogen gathering abil¬ 
ity of the Soy beans in some way contributed to the 
growth of the corn associated with beans, and gave 
the corn an advantage not possessed by the corn 
grown alone. 
The soil requirements of Soy beans are not hard to 
meet. In a general way the crop can be grown on any 
soil that will grow corn. Wherever both soil and 
climate are suited to corn growing, some variety of 
Soy beans can be found that will mature if planted 
as early as the corn. The lime requirement for Soy 
beans is not so great as for Alfalfa, although they 
April 20. 
will make their greatest growth where lime is abund¬ 
ant in the soil. They are hardier than garden and 
field beans of many kinds. I know that they can be 
safely planted as early as corn can be planted. They 
have been known to survive soil conditions that were 
fatal to corn. They are not so sensitive to wet or 
very dry soil conditions as corn. 
Inter-tillage or cultivation in rows should be prac¬ 
ticed if you want a normal growth of Soy beans. A 
few persons have tried sowing them for a cover crop. 
They cannot be generally recommended for that pur¬ 
pose. They need cultivation from the time they come 
up to the setting of pods. After that they should not 
be cultivated. If planted in rows 28 inches apart they 
will nearly touch across the rows by that time. If 
planted mixed with corn in wider rows the field will 
be laid by before podding begins. 
• There are two general plans for growing Soy beans 
to ensile with corn. Either the beans must be grown 
in separate rows or in a separate field, and cut with a 
binder or reaper at the same time as the corn for the 
silo, or else the beans are sown mixed with the usual 
amount of corn for silage purposes. Some farmers 
plant the corn first and follow with the beans in the 
same hill. Some have rigged up planters to drop corn 
and beans in the same hill, but from separate boxes. 
A few have planted hills of Soy beans between the 
corn hills after the first cross-cultivation of a check- 
rowed cornfield. This plan will likely fail if the corp, 
has a few inches of growth and dry weather follows. 
Perhaps the plan most easily adopted is the sowing of 
a mixture of corn and Soy beans with a grain drill 
which can sow rows 35 or 42 inches apart. The same 
amount of seed corn should be used whether beans are 
sown or not. The feed should be increased to allow 
for the sowing of from four to eight quarts of Soy 
beans per acre in addition. The richer the soil the 
smaller the quantity of seed required to produce the 
same amount of fodder. It is not wise to plant Soy 
beans with a very tall variety of corn. The shading 
of the beans by the corn causes them to grow slender 
and spindling. The variety of beans used ought to 
make a growth of from three to four feet on good 
soils, and come to partial maturity when it is time to 
cut corn for silage. I know of no better variety for 
New York conditions than the Medium Early Green 
or Guelph Soy bean. If grown mixed with Pride of 
the North yellow dent corn or varieties of similar 
character it matures about right for silage purposes, 
and if left in the field until frost kills the leaves, ripe 
seed for next year’s planting may be harvested. The 
price of seed beans of this variety rang,es from $4 to 
$5 a bushel this year, and the supply is scarce. Not 
many of these beans are grown to maturity for thrash¬ 
ing, for it shatters badly when dry. I hope that a 
number of New York farmers will try growing a 
quantity of these beans for seed this year. A yield 
of 20 bushels of beans an acre ought to be secured 
under good culture. At the present selling prices this 
would make a remunerative farm crop, besides pre¬ 
paring the soil for a good crop of grain following. 
Will the beans stay in the corn bundles? That is a 
question which troubles some inquirers. My observa¬ 
tion has been that where the corn was tall enough to 
bind below the ears the beanstalks stay with the corn 
very well in handling, and are already mixed for the 
silo. Binding the corn above the ears will allow more 
or less of the bean plants to fall out in handling. 
The best small pamphlet about Soy beans is Far¬ 
mers’ Bulletin 372, issued by the United States De¬ 
partment of Agriculture. It describes several useful 
varieties and discusses the various uses of the plant. 
A new bulletin will soon be issued from the Cornell 
Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y., which discusses 
the Soy bean as a supplementary silage crop with spe¬ 
cial reference to New York conditions. This bulletin 
may be had on request. edward r. minns. 
N. Y. College of Agriculture. 
GERMAN AGRICULTURAL CREDIT SYSTEM. 
Part III. 
PUBLIC SAVINGS BANK.—Next to the Land 
Mortgage Associations which were described in a previ¬ 
ous article, the public savings banks are the most im¬ 
portant institutions for furnishing credit to the Ger¬ 
man farmers. The savings banks are especially wide¬ 
spread in Germany, and at the present time there are 
over 2,900 such institutions with deposits of over three 
and one half billion dollars. Although a large part 
of their loans are made on city and town property, 
still a considerable sum, in fact about seven hundred 
million dollars, is loaned on farm property. The loans 
from these banks are especially useful for the small 
farmers who do not have enough property to enable 
them to secure loans through the land mortgage asso¬ 
ciations. The loans from the public savings banks 
lack the advantage, however, of these from the latter 
association, in not having provisions for the partial 
payments on the loan in connection with the payment 
