590  Soy  Bean.  {*S^£*u2l' 
Massachusetts  (Hatch)  Station  the  medium  green  soy  bean  produces 
great  numbers  of  the  tubercles.  At  the  same  station  it  was 
found  that  a  liberal  application  of  nitrates  interfered  with  the 
development  of  the  tubercles. 
In  experiments  made  at  the  Storrs  Experiment  Station  soy  beans 
were  planted  in  soil  uninfested  with  the  tubercle  microbes,  and  then 
later  in  the  season  (about  the  middle  of  July)  a  portion  of  the  field 
was  inoculated  with  infected  soil.  Tubercles  were  produced  on  the 
plants  in  the  inoculated  land,  but  owing  to  the  lateness  of  the  inocu- 
lation, they  made  but  little  development,  and  no  difference  could  be 
noticed  between  the  crops  grown  on  the  two  parts  of  the  field. 
Soy  Beans  as  Food  for  Man. — The  soy  bean  has  been  used  as  a 
food  for  man  in  Japan,  China  and  neighboring  countries,  from  the 
earliest  times.  In  more  recent  years  it  has  been  cultivated  for  this 
purpose  in  Europe.  Analyses  were  given  in  this  Journal,  June, 
1896. 
Comparatively  little  information  is  available  concerning  the  chemi- 
cal character  of  the  different  constituents  of  the  soy  bean.  Accord- 
ing to  the  Japanese  investigators,  the  bean  contains,  on  an  average, 
7-5  per  cent,  of  nitrogen,  6.9  per  cent,  being  albuminoid  nitrogen, 
exclusive  of  peptones,  o-i  per  cent,  amide  nitrogen,  and  0-3  per 
cent,  nitrogen  of  peptones.  Osborne  studied  the  nitrogenous  con- 
stituents of  white  or  kidney  beans.  He  found  that  they  contained 
on  an  average  23-5  per  cent,  of  protein,  made  up  of  phaselin  and 
phaseolin.  The  percentage  of  protein  in  the  soy  bean  is  much 
higher  than  this,  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  it  differs  materially 
in  chemical  character.  According  to  Japanese  authors,  the  soy 
bean  contains  no  starch.  No  statements  have  been  found  concern- 
ing the  character  of  the  fat. 
The  fact  is  well  recognized  that  beans  of  all  kinds  are  valuable 
food  because  of  the  large  amount  of  protein  and  fat  which  they  con- 
tain. In  order  that  the  nutrients  may  be  available,  the  beans  must 
be  cooked  or  prepared  in  some  way  so  that  the  cell  walls  may  be 
broken  down  and  the  contents  readily  acted  on  by  the  digestive 
juices.  What  is  true  of  beans  in  general,  is  especially  true  of  the 
soy  bean.  Though  it  is  eaten  more  extensively  in  China  and  Japan 
than  in  any  other  countries,  so  far  as  can  be  learned  it  is  never  eaten 
there  as  a  vegetable,  but  more  or  less  complex  food  products  are 
prepared  from  it.    At  least  five  preparations  are  commonly  made  in 
