The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-05-07

them. Cows will leave boiled cotton seed and meal for Sofas, and hores pre- fer the hay to corn, and 1t seems to have c very invigoratfng effect on them like good heavy oats. Hogs delight In them and need little else. They are ideal food for milch cows, and l can cite no better test of their value. In fact. Soy beans, grain and nay. are one of the richest vegetable growths- Not like peas. rich only in protein and poor in fat. or like corn. rich in fat and poor in protein: but rich all around, as we need them, especially Tor milch cows and young growing stock
 Soy beans make a good cutting on land too much run down for corn. 1T such land can stock them with root nodules early and well. This always takes place with me, though much pet ter the second year than the first. This may not be the case elsewhere. and 1T not 1t will be we'll to, find the cause. This will be either a lack of germs, which may be overcome by using soil on sich sofas have been raised sev- eral times. to inoeulate such a neld, or 1t may be on account of acidity of soil, which must be cured by lining or marling. All legumes suffer In such situations. being poorly supplied with root nodules. Peanuts will produce
 
 growth, and clover will not do at all. On second rate land such as would bring say twenty bushels of corn. Soy beans will grow three to four feet high and lock across thirty-three to thirty six inch rows. And that means at least twice the feed suca an acre would produce in corn, which exacts so much hand labor whilst the Soy crop is made from beginning to end by horses and ma efi r,tt in fhirtv- three to thirty-six inch rows, because that width suits my four and one-half feet cut Buckeye. Mower by cutting two rows at time when running length wise the field. The cultivating is be- gun with slant tooth harrow. and run or two of the common cultivator set harrow does the rest But of course early paintings need more work ings than late ones, never hoe little grass grows along with the beans in the rows, which is cut and saved with them. and is good mix ture for feed. plant bushel of seed on two and one-haif to three acres. Soy beans have great power of endur- ance. They come self sown in my land, even where 1t was overflowed several times during winter. I picked up some plants passed out of the seed leaf stage as early as April s. even in this late spring. Yet cannot safely plant such land in corn before May Is. I cut with a mower. and prefer to save in shocks, capped with wild hay to shed rain in case there is any danger of such. Last fall four or five capped shocks, which I thought were spoiled. were left standing until March, when to my as- tonishment I found them inside as green as when put up. and hurt on the top and next to the ground only. Sofas require less curing than COW peas, or about the same as blade fod- der, and must be perfectly free from dew or rain before putting in now. They will heat sometimes and discolor in consequence, but that does no harm in any way that l can see.
 TheA seed is very easily injured by over heating, and our seedmen or seed growers ought to be extra careful in putting. them in bulk on that account Being threshed out late in the fall. they do not dry like many other seeds, as they maintain lots of oil. I have re- ceived seeds from some of the best seedmen injured in that way. hence this caution.
 Joshut Franklin.