The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1910-03-11
Use of the Soy Bean.

SAh AhS ~
on the soy bean was written by Prof.
C. H. Lane, and published in a recent
issue of the Farmers News Scimitar:
: We are inclined to believe that the
soy bean, or as it is sometimes called,
sofa bean, has a greater future as a
forage crop than any other known as
yet to Southern agriculture. 1t is a
legume that is enjoying the attention
and interest of practically all the ex-
pertinent stations throughout the Cen
trail and Southern States, as well as
the most progressive farmers. In a
sense the plant is new to American ag-
r~iculture, but has been cultivated for
human food purposes and otherwise for
ages in the far East-especially in
China and parts of India. We are great
ly indebted to the United States Depart
ment of Agriculture for this new for
g crop, as it has been through its
efforts that we have this most prom
Using of all farm crops.
There has been a great awakening in
agriculture during the last decade
throughout the South. For, notwith-
standing a favorable climate, fertile
soils, satisfactory rainfall and valuable
natural resources, the South has thus
far failed to produce the results in
wealth production and economic pro-
press which its natural conditions seem
to justify.
According to an article written by
DR.. Knapp on the Causes of Southern
Rural Conditions and the Small Farm
as An Important Remedy" and pub
lished in the United States Department
of Agriculture year book for 1908, he
traces the deficiency in progress to four
main economic errors, viz: Compulsory
labor by another race, adoption of a
one-crop system of farming, the estab-
lishment of large plantations, and fail
ure to utilize the wealth of minerals,
timbers and other natural resources in
building up "a commonwealth that
would furnish markets as well as raw
materials, and thus in a Measure be-
come self-sustaining and independent"
Other causes of decline mentioned are
lack of transportation facilities, poor
roads and scarcity of money and labor.
1t is to the adoption of a one-crop
system of farming, as mentioned above,
that l wish to call your especial atten.
ton.
For a number of years we have
crop on the farm of the Tennessee agri-
cultural experiment station, and have
found that it has few equals and no
superiors in a system of crop rotations
that should obtain throughout the
South. They furnish a catch crop so
far superior to the ones which have
been grown in the past, such as the
millets, that there is absolutely no com
p%arison. For example, last May we
took from one field three tons of oats,
crimson clover and winter vetch hay,
broke the land and sowed mammoth
yellow soy beans in thirty-six inch rows
at the rate of about one-half bushel to
the acre, and got a yield of twenty-one
bushels of beans per acre strong, with
about one ton of soy bean straw, which
has been used to good profit with fat
tening steers rs a rOughage during the
winter. This piece of land was thor
oughly disced after the beans were re-
moved and a mixture of wheat, crimson
clover and yetch sown. We have applied
barnyard manure as a light top dressing
to this land during the winter, the first
in three years. There has been no con
mercial fertilizer used, and it is ordi-
nary upland loan soil.
Feeding Values.
AS to the feeding value of the soy
bean, we have found hat the meal is
a most excellent feed for dairy cows.
In an experiment to compare soy bean
straw and corn slower, we found that
the soy bean straw was very p~alatable
and superior to corn slower as a feed.
More feed was eaten in the case of the
soy bean straw, but the cost of the
feeds consumed during the thirty-day
period was practically the same. The
soy bean ration produced IL per cent.
more milk and Is per cent. more butter
fat. Another experiment was carried
out to compare soy bean hay and al.
falfa hay, which were also fed in com
bination with corn silage and corn and
cob meal. The experiment ran for
ninety days, and at the end of this
time the results were in favor of the
soy bean hay by 245 pounds of milk
and 2O.5 pounds of butter fat. Still an
other experiment comparing soy bean
meal and cotton seed meal. In this com.
parison the yield both of milk and OF
butter fat was about 5 per cent. greater
for the soy bean meal. Sheep will do
well on soy beans, as indicated by an
experiment carried on at the Wiscon'
sin agricultural experiment station in
1904 and 1905. The sheep were divided
in two lots of ten each. One lot re.
ceived whole soy beans and shelled corn
in equal proportions; the other lot got
shelled corn and whole oats in equal
quantities. The result of the expert
ment shows that the lot which had soy
beans as a part of their ration fol-
twelve weeks had gained on an aver
age 1873 pounds per lamb, while those
receiving the corn and oats gained or
an average per lamb of 1913 pounds