The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1899-05-17
Soy Bean and Cow pea Experience.
E.F. DrKHL, NoRrHERN INDIANA.

0Vl D~An NAN WV - A-AR~AA~hA~~s
E.F D1EBL NoRTHERN INDIANA.
The beans and peas were grown for
seed between the 4lst and 42d parallels
Of latitude, that lie the northern half Of
Indiana About .ffteen pounds dwarf
and twelve pounds per acre, and not
more than eight pounds Of COW peas, in
four varieties, were planted, The
medium soy and COW peas we're planted
June 4, and the dwarf soy June 90 The
dwarf grew on ground from which
crop OF crimson clover had just been
harvested The COW peas were planted
by hand, dropping two to three seeds
short step apart in rows thirty-two inches
apart. The beans were planted with
grain drill in rows three tet apart, dis.
tributing twenty-five to thirty seeds per
row. Part of the field was planted with
late POTATOES, and cultivation Of all the
crops was similar A weeder was used
few times, then a one-horse cultivator
and corn pillow hayiug four shovels in
each gang whenever necessary for thor
ough work.
The dwarf soy matured in about one
hundred DAYS. The mediums required
twenty to thirty days more TO ripen. 1
saved fifteen bushels per acre, but fully
twenty-five per cent were left in straw,
but not lost, as used the straw for pig
bedding, and the pigs never went TO bed
while any beans could be found. The
relish with which hogs ate the soy at all
stages Of growth prepared me to receive
without question the Kansas Expert
ment Station feeding tests report,
From one pound Of Blackeye COW peas
planted 1 saved 200 pounds, and fully
twenty-five per cent went to the hogs in
the straw. This variety is very early, a
rank grower and prolific seeder, and in
an ordinary season would, think, ma
ture seed few degrees north of this.
While the lvines OF the COW pea, many
over seven feet long, trail on the ground
and intertwine, the seed stems grow
erect to get the pods above the dense
foliage. l measure one stem eighteen
inches long, with three pods, whose COM
bined length was twenty-five inches,
each containing fifteen seeds believe
the cow peas will be especially useful in
the North, to furnish worn out soils with
two essentials for successful clover grow
ing-humus and legume bacteria. The
same is true of the soy bean, which l
prefer both for stock food and fertile
or, owing to its richness in protein and
nitrogen, and habit of growing erect,
making it possible to drill wheat be-
tween rows the same as corn, 1t need
not be harvested until stalks are thor.
oughly dry, as freezing weather does
not injure the ripe seed, and like every
other good thing its original environ
ment has been changed to adapt it to a
wider area, resulting in an early or
dwarf variety for northern belt, a medi-
um for middle, and mammoth for south
ern. For balancing ration for corn it
will eventually be grown wherever corn
does we'll. The peanut is the only other
plant in cultivation richer in food con-
stituents than the soy bean. The manu-
facturers of peanut butter may find in
Soy butter competitor for public favor
in the near future.
A few farmers in each neighborhood
should test a few kinds Of early COW
peas and the varieties of soy bean best
adapted to their latitude, TO learn theiI
individual characteristics, adsptabilitY to
soil and climate, best methods of grow.
ing, etc, and to get seed for future USE
AS drouth reslster the soy bean is su
perior to COW pea or Canadian field pea
Of which l have had convincing dem
onstratiOns in the test boxes this win
ter,