Milford chronicle., 1912-07-26
GROWING SOY BEANS

! AN-t,F eANE AllE AuADA III d % lUu uUW u
SOW SOY beans. I would like to have
them in rows far enought apart so
! can cultivate % them. Please state
/ amount of seed per acre"
Soy beans are used very extensively
for having purposes throughout Ohio
Together with cowpeas, soy beans
/ I'LL a very important place in crop ro-
tatiOn, and make good hay crop, be-
cause if an early crop should fail or
partially fail, it is possible to grow a
crop Of soy beans during the summer
months. One of the chief objections to
soy beans as a hay crop is that the
stems become very tibrous or woody
unless harvested early
Soy beans make a very good silage
crop when mixed with corn. The
best results can be obtained by using
two parts of corn to one of soy beans.
The Ohio experiment station has
found that best results are obtained
when these two crops are grown separ-
ately and mixed at the time of filling
the silo, putting in two loads Of corn
and then one load of SOY beans
For soiling purposes SOY beans do
very well. mainly because they come
on later than oats rye, and other crops
used for this purpose Also. because
Of the nature of the plant, it stands a
great deal of hot weather.
Soy beans, being similar to the other
leguminous crops, improve the soil by
gathering nitrogen from the air. II
SOY beans or clovers have not been
grown on the field previously. the soy
beans will not. or are apt not to do so
well the first year The presence of
soil bacteria is necessary to obtain the
best results. This bacteria seems to
be present in more desirable quar-
titles after the beans have been grown
in the same field at least one year.
There 2 a number Of varieties thct
are growN very surc-- seully in Ohio.
but -hn "'af'u"' g~aan IS the best and
most widely CROWN. - ra-u'ros from
ninety 20 ore hundred da~s for r-atu--
ing tt is ve~v good oro7 fr~ 0~o-
ducirq rav r~4 on fra a'ba~ band.
must r, '-a~1'~l -,-'tt o@-o c~ I win
shattor IFS =~o1 go. ta1'v. to Ito
San is ar o---~oi e'v we'd va etv. II
IS ton m ef COW drvs a~r'ior tFar the
medium eeer. BE- does rot v'e'd as
much g~ed. nor is it as satisfactory
for hav as medium green. There are
several cher "a ties. such as me-
diur, voIlow. medium early black. and
medium brown, hut TIE two mem
tiored arove are he best.
TIE sov loon REQUIRES = seod bed
smile IN t'at Of CON. tt will pro-
dura Z, ~or v'elds cf f0ra~a On fe'tila
soils Vet s,or's to r"odu~n more seed
or eoi'- Not 90 orlv me1irp IN fer
tili.v. ~re ano1icqt'ou cf stable ma
nu~a IS ~ery p,oftable for growing
SOY bea~e.
In sao7i~o eov hoars. if for raising
seed o~'v. 4Nov should no drilled in
rows tv-ortv-fcu~ to thirty inches
apart. v.hich is vide erough to enable
them to he cultivated. If grown for
FORAGE orlv. or for green manuring
purnose=> +hev are usually drilled eight
inches o~ort " the use of the common
grain dill. The Ohio experiment
station has not found a wide variance
in FORAGE production between fields |
where the beans were drilled eight !
inches aDart as compared with those |
drilled twenty four inches apart |
When drilled eight inches apart, the |
stalks do not grow as large, and for !
this reasop seem to make little bet
ter quality of hay than when drilled |
in wider rows.
With the rows twenty-eight to thirty |
inches apart, it requires about one-half |
bushel of seed to the acre: two foot |
rows require about three pecks, and If
drilled solid. from one and one-half to
two bushels to the acre.
The tillage implements used fer cul-
tivating soy beans are similar to those
used for corn. In some cases the
weeder has given very good satisfac-
tion, but usually the one-horse harrow
tooth cultivator is used All cultiva-
ton should be shallow and level.
When harvesting for hay. the soy
beans should be cut just as soon as the
pods begin to form, for two reasons
first, to preserve the leaves, which is
the most important part of forage
purposes. and second, the stem is not
80 woody at this stage of the plants
growth. If the plants are left until
the beans are matured, the stems are
very woody and of little value for hay
II the plant is to be used for silage
purposes, it may be permitted to stand
until it is more mature and yet make
good feed.
When cutting for seed, 1t is neces-
sary to harvest before the seeds are
-ipe. so as to prevent losing a large
portion of the seeds by shattering.
The moving machine and the hay
AXE are the best implements for ha-
resting the soy beans. There have
,een some special machines designed
or this purpose, but they have not
proven satisfactory. When threashing
or seed, the ordinary threshing ma
.hine will handle the work satisfactor-
ly, but should be run at very moder-
lte speed with the concaves blank.