The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-05-21
Soy Reans.

 important part on the farms or the most proRregsive argrioulturfsfS or the South. 1t is of highest value Tor us seed, as a hay plant, as crop for thfs soil. and last. but not least, as a means of improving the fertility Of the SOIL Indeed visitors who now inspect the experiment station farm from this years results are inclined to place the soy bean even ahead of the cowpea as a soil improver: for oats planted after soy beans. cowpeas, peanuts and after corn sorghum, show decided improvement due to previous crops or soy beans, cowpeas and peanuts, but the best growth is on the plots where last winter the entire growth of the preceding crop of soy beans was blow ed under. However. I think 1t is not generally true that the soy bean ranks the cowpea for soil improvement, but under favorable conditions 1t seems to be about equal to this, our stand ard renovator.
 The soy bean is an erect, branching. bushy plant. the varieties that are adapted to the South usuually growing to a height of two and one-half to four feet and producing from ten to two hundred short hairy pods, each containing one to several seed. We have found that the yield of grain from soy beans on poor land Is at least fifty per cent greater than the yield of corn, and this seed is the richest known natural food, equaling the artificial preparation. cotton seed meal which 1t closely resembles in composition. These seed are suitable for all classes of poultry and live stock but are too rich to be advantageously fed alone. al- though no injurious consequences re- suit when this is done for brief periods. One pound of soy beans mixed with three hounds of corn is worth consid .IxV. fnga Of alone. As a hay plant l regard soy beans as making coarser hay than cowpeas but a hay equally nutritious, and a yield quite as large or larger.
 Now is the time to plant, that is from May to June Is. the earlier the better within these limits.
 Whether intended for seed or for hay. soy beans should usually be grown in drills two and one half to three feet apart, and cultivated several times during the summer. Several seed should be dropped at intervals Of eight to twelve inches, not thinning the young plants if hay Is desired. but thinning to one plant per hill If in- tended for seed production. It is us ually the case that soy beans. at least the late varieties, need no artificial inoculation either on the sandy or the prairie land of our State This may possibly be because considerable aust from the old field IS uSudlly HlASu " ith the seed. thus serving to inoculate the young plants. Seed are kept In stock hy practically all Southern secdmen' though not always of a sultaole va riety.
 In buying seed the farmer must be careful to insist on being supplied with the late yellow variety, sometimes known as mammoth yellow. Most of the smaller varieties grown In the North produce diminutive plants on our medium and poor soil, the pods some times being too low on the plant TOT convenient harvesting.
 This is a crop that farmer cannot try on very small plot with assurance of being able to make fair test. For it is very appetizing to rabplts and unless enough is grown TOT tneH. and for the farmer. too. say one-halI acre or more, the lions share will often go to rabbits, which devour the young
 As compared with the cowpeas, the soy bean has these advantagec: (1). Being an upright plant It does not not tangle; CD, if needed for seed, 1t does not require picking. the entire plants being cut and threshed oT frailed or tramped; (3), on prairie land or other land on which cowpeas run to vines without fruiting properly, the soy bean never fails to produce a crop of seed somewhat in proportion to the size of the plant.
 While it is too early to suggest spe- cial methods that l have found appli- cable in curing soy bean hay, yet 1t is well to caution farmers that when the pIant Is intended for seed, cutting must be made as soon as all of the pods nave been coIored. Otherwise the seed will shatter and they can then be utilized onIy by turning hogs into the field
 Indeed one of the coming crops for the production of cheap pork in those parts of the South where alfalfa does